


The Future Is Fragile

by Natalie_Carson



Series: I Do Love Nothing In The World So Much As You [3]
Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Facebook posts, Fluff, Non Linear Timeline, Slow Burn, You've been warned, and there is a lot of angst, kind of, like slow burn, the future of us au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-17 09:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16513832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natalie_Carson/pseuds/Natalie_Carson
Summary: The year is 2002 and Amy just got her first computer. After setting it up and browsing around the internet she discovers a site called Facebook. The only problem is that Facebook didn't come out until 2004. Amy quickly realizes that she is seeing posts from her future and slowly she starts to see how easy it is to change the future.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I swore that I was going to wait a while to post this, but I just couldn't wait. I have a serious problem. These Au's are way too much fun for me to write.

“Guess whose new computer just arrived?” Amy sang as she walked into the precinct. 

“Did you finally order one?” Jake asked her as she sat down at the desk across from him. “You’re way behind.”

“Am not.” Amy said. “Most people don’t have computers at their houses yet.” Amy looked down at her desk dreading what she was going to ask him. There was nothing she hated more than asking _Jake Peralta_ for help “But I do need your help setting it up.”

“Amy Santiago needs my help? Thats a sentence I never thought I would hear.”

“Shut up.” Amy said. “Will you help me or not. I can call my brother if you’re going to be a pill about it.”

“No.” Jake said quickly. “I’ll help you tonight but you have to buy me pizza.”

“Deal.” Amy said. 

\-----

Jake shows up twenty minutes later than when he said he would be there. Not that’s it really a surprise to Amy. The pizza on the counter is probably cold, but she knows he likes it ‘display temperature’. 

“Alright, where do you want this set up?” He asks her taking a bite of his pizza very reminiscent of the way an animal would.

“It’s a laptop.” 

“Oh.” He said sitting down at her kitchen table. “Where’s your grandma?” He asked.

“What do you mean?” She set the laptop down in front of him and slid him a napkin. He wiped his hand on the napkin before opening the computer.

“Your apartment looks like you live with you grandma.”

“You don't have to be a jackass.” Amy said. “I actually like the way I decorated it thank you very much.”

“This is a really nice computer.” He said admiring the laptop. “How much did this cost?”

“About 3,000.”

“Good lord.” Jake said starting the boot up processes. It wasn’t long before the computer was up and running. He patted the seat next to him and she came over and sat down next to him. “You should sign up for an AOL so we can message.”

“Why would I want to talk to you while we’re not at work. I get enough of you there.”

“Wow you’re just gonna lie straight to my face, nice Santiago. I thought that we were best friends.”

“Okay.” Amy said sounding more annoyed than she felt. She slid the computer across the table. “What’s your username?” She asked after finishing setting up her account.

“Don’t make fun of me.”

“Oh gosh.” 

“Jakeybootylicousperalta.” 

“Wow...wow.” 

“Shut up.” Jake said. “I’m going to go. Got somethings to do.”

“Is it Jenny time?”

“What? No.” Jake said in a high pitched voice. Amy arched her eyebrows clearly not buying his excuse. “Fine there’s a small chance if I leave now we may get caught in the elevator at the same time.”

“Well good luck with that.” Amy said as he left her apartment in a hurry. She continued to browse around on the internet getting a feeling for her brand new laptop. Her brother, Luis, was going to be so jealous. 

A pop up in the corner of her screen reading ‘you’ve got a new notification' caught her attention. She clicked on it thinking it was something from the aol Jake had made her sign up for. But instead she was directed to a website called Facebook.

Facebook was loaded with posts from various people she had never heard of. Most of them were random things like what they happened to be doing at that moment. There was also pictures of people posing for selfies or posting a family picture that was a little too picture perfect.

She scrolled through the content trying to figure out who these people where. There was a whole bar on the side filled with peoples names, some of them had green dots. When she clicked the first name it opened a little chat box. Quickly she closed out of it not really sure who that person even was.

The little bell at the top with the red notification box caught her attention. It pulled down a pop up saying William Scotch tagged her in a picture. She furrowed her eyebrows together trying to remember if she knew a William Scotch, the name was not ringing any bells.

She clicked on the pop up and was directed to what the website said was her page. Only problem was she never made this page. The picture she was tagged in had a tall man with blonde hair and stunning blue eyes. He was handsome for sure, but she didn’t understand why he was standing next to her in this picture.

The two of them were on a yacht in what looked like the middle of the ocean. She had never been on a yacht before nor did she know this man. Amy looked at the picture closer to see if it was even really her. But sure enough the girl in the picture was her, and this man had even tagged Amy in the picture.

**May 28, 2018**

**William Scotch**

**Had such a great day today with you baby. Can’t wait to spend many more weekends on the water.**

_Baby?_ Since when was she this guy's baby. She clicked on her profile picture which appeared to be her and this man during a wedding ceremony. The webpage loaded her profile which confirmed that she was married to William Scotch. The two got married in 2014 according to this. He was a neurosurgeon at Brooklyn Methodists. That had to be some kind of mistake. She was not married to this guy and the year was definitely not 2018.

She went through some of the other stuff on the account. Her favorite movie was Gone Girl, favorite book Harry Potter, at least that was accurate. On her account she found some more posts that she had supposedly made. Most of them sickeningly affectionate for this William.

**April 12 2017**

**Amy Santiago**

**Still can’t believe that I get to wake up every single day next to Will. I feel like the luckiest girl alive.**

**April 2 2017**

**Amy Santiago**

**Going out on the boat today. Will’s going scuba diving, but I think I’ll stay on the surface relaxing with a good book. #wife’s need a break too.**

**March 26, 2017**

**Amy Santiago**

**So great to see you guys again. It’s been way to long. I missed my family. Shout to Boyle for catering, the food was delicious.**

The last one was accompanied with a picture of all of her co-workers from the nine nine. Everyone looked older except Jake, who somehow looked younger if that was even possible. Everyone from work was tagged in this picture, she hovered her mouse over Jake’s name before shutting the computer down completely. She was dreaming. That was the only explanation. How else could she be seeing posts supposedly from the future. 

She left the laptop on the kitchen table making her way to her bedroom to change. This was all going to go away in the morning. William Scotch did not exist. He was just some fragment of her imagination. Some lovely daydream of the perfect husband. That was all. This was all going to go away in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Amy woke up early, although she didn’t exactly sleep to well last night. Her thoughts were occupied of William and all these people she didn’t know. Then there was Jake and what his future was. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t sigh a breath of relief to not see him with a girl in that picture.

As she logs back onto her computer she tells herself over and over again this was just some dream. But atlas facebook pulled up the same thing it did last night. The perfect life of William and Amy. She shut the computer quickly and started getting ready for work.

\----

“Have you ever heard of Facebook?”Amy asked Jake as she sat down at her desk.

“No.” Jake said. “What is it?”

“I’m not exactly sure. It’s like blogs or something. We all posts pictures and like things about what’s going on in our lives.”

“We?” Jake questioned turning to the computer on his desk. “Facebook?” 

“Yeah.” 

Jake searched into his computer’s browser but nothing came up. “Are you sure?” Amy nodded. “There’s nothing there called Facebook.”

“Yes there is. It’s facebook.com. I got it on my computer last night. It is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s my account like almost from the future. There are posts from 2018 and I’m married to a guy named William.”

“Were you hitting the pipe last night?” Jake asked a smile on his face at his clear amusement to the whole story.

“I was not high. This really happened after you left. I got a pop up that I had a notification so I clicked on it and it brought me to that website and that page.”

“And you think it’s the future?” Jake asked trying to hold back his laughter. “You know everyone says you're smarter than me but I’m starting to wonder.”

“This is not funny.” Amy said to him. “Do you want to come over and see if for yourself? There was even a picture of you on there.”

“I would _love_ to come over and see the future with you Amy.” Jake said cracking a smile and Amy knew that she was going to regret this later.

\-----

“Alright let’s see it.” Jake said plopping himself down on her couch. Amy brought over her laptop signing into the account. She sat down next to him close enough to smell the remains of this morning’s cologne. It stirred something in her stomach that she usually tried so desperately to ignore. “Facebook.” Jake repeated as if he needed clarification.

“Yeah. So these are all things that I’ve put out there or things that someone has put out there that I was part of.” 

“Okay.” Jake said scrolling through the page. “Geesh you really just put it all out there didn’t you. Listen to this one.”

**December 25, 2015**

**Amy Santiago**

**Woke up to an early morning surprise from hubby ;).**

“Good lord.” Jake said looking at the picture that future Amy had attached. It was her and William cuddled up in bed clearly post sex. “And you think that you posted these. Ames you don’t seem like the kind that would post stuff like this.”

“I know!” Amy exclaimed. “I would never post that. But you can’t deny that’s me in the picture.”

“Yeah.” Jake said although he didn’t give the picture a second glance. “You said that I had an account on here?”

“Yeah.” Amy said taking the computer and typing his name in the search box before clicking on his account.

“Thanks.” He said when it was back in front of him. “Well it says I still work at the nine nine.”

“Wait!” Amy said. “You can see occupations?” Jake nodded pointing at the box where it said where he worked. “Give me that, did I make captain?”

“You know this is entirely made up and not true?” Jake asked as she navigates her way back to her account. “There’s no way-”

“Oh my gosh!” Amy shouted. “It says that I don’t work at all.”

“See.” Jake said “That’s why this isn’t real. You would never quit your job to be a housewife.” Amy stared at the computer in shock. Was she really just some housewife? There was no way that she Amy Santiago was just some man’s wife.

“Oh I’ve got a wife too!” Jake exclaimed.

“Thought this wasn’t real.” Amy said wanting to ignore the fact that he did indeed have a very beautiful wife in his profile picture.

“Sophia Perez.” Jake said “That sounds really familiar for some reason. Jake started to go through his profile to see all of his posts. “Not off to a great start.” Jake said.

**April 17, 2018**

**Jake Peralta**

**I was today year’s old when I found out that California has a bigger population than all of Canada. That’s crazy right!?!**

“Are there any comments?” Amy asked. “Occasionally on mine several people on the nine nine would comment something.” Jake clicked the little comment box before continuing to read.

**_Sophia Perez_**

__

**Come on babe. Common sense**

__

**Charles Boyle**

__

_**What?!? I’ve never heard that before. I should go tell Eleanor right now. She’s going to be amazed.”**_?

Jake scrolled past random posts, most sounding like they were shower thoughts that he shared right afterwards. Occasionally there was a post on there about how great it was to see his mom or what him and Sophia we’re doing. 

That is until he stumbled on a picture of himself standing behind Sophia looking down at her with a gaze of adoration. His hands were rested firmly on her stomach while he's were rested on top of his.

**April 13, 2018**

**Jake Peralta**

**So excited to announce to the world that we’re expecting. Baby Peralta-Perez will be here in four months if everything goes according to plan. But knowing that half his genes are mine he’ll probably be here in five months LOL.**

Jake started at the picture while Amy stared anywhere other than the picture. She didn’t like Jake, he was obnoxious and childish. But seeing him standing there next that woman and the look in his eyes. It wasn’t about Jake. It was the way she hadn’t seen anyone look at her like that in a long time. Maybe even ever.

“I still don’t think this is real.” He said closing the computer and handing it back to her.

“What do you mean?” Amy asked opening the computer backup. “That’s you isn’t it? Do you have an identical twin? If not then that is you.”

“I mean yeah that’s me.” Jake said admitting defeat. “But there is no way that this computer is showing us the future. I mean how is that even possible?”

“I don’t know.” Amy said. “How is it possible for you to pose in a picture you have no recollection of taking and then it appear on the internet?”

“Somebody’s messing with you.” Jake said. “That’s the only explanation. You opened a link that was bad and now you’ve infected your brand new computer.”

“How would they have gotten the pictures?” Amy shouted at him sounding far more angry than she really was. “Let’s say it is someone messing with us.” Amy said. “Explain to me how they could have pictures of you and me with random people that we don’t know.” Jake was silent but she could tell that he was trying to come up with a reason that this could be happening. “I didn’t have to log in the first time, but I did have to log in this time. Do you know what my password was?”

“How would I know?” 

“It was Jack Kanoff.” Amy said. “You know the first perp that we arrested together whose name you kept making fun of. It's what I use for all my passwords.” 

“You really use that?" Jake asked a smirk on his face. "I actually use that too."

“I can’t explain how, but this is real. This isn't it a virus or someone messing with us. Somehow I’ve accessed our future Facebook accounts.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, this is all written so I think you guys will get updates daily :) 
> 
> Also for this chapter and the rest of them, comments on a facebook posts are in italics. I'm hoping that makes it easier to read.

“Okay so if this is real then who else is on here? Is everyone we know on here? I saw Charles name before, let’s check out him.” Jake typed Charles Boyle into the search bar and then clicked on his profile. “Well he doesn't work that nine nine anymore either if that makes you feel better.”

“It doesn't.” Amy said sitting down next to Jake. “He owns a restaurant in New York called Boyle’s kitchen.”

“Good for him.” 

“I still don’t think this is real.” Jake said when she leaned over him to see the computer. The smell of her perfume was intoxicating. She smelt like the perfect mixture of roses and daisies.

“I really don’t care what you think.” Amy said grabbing the laptop off of his lap. “Take it for what it is Jake. If you think it’s fake then great you can think that. Then it’s all fun and games.”

She scrolled down on his page. “He’s married to a girl named Eleanor. Oh here a post about some food that he’s just tried.

**May 16, 2018**

**Charles Boyle**

**Just tried mashed potato donuts. It was amazing, would definitely recommend. Will probably become an item on the menu for Boyle’s kitchen. Stay posted.**

“That sounds so gross.” Jake said scrunching up his face in disgust. “But of course Charles would love it.”

“Dude.” Amy said. “His wife is a psychopath. Listen to this.” Amy said reading a post off of the computer.

**April 7, 2018**

**Eleanor Boyle with Charles Boyle**

**Our stupid cat ran away because Charles left the door open. Surprise surprise what else is new. I hope that stupid cat doesn't come back. She was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Couldn’t figure out how the cat door worked. I hope he or she (I don't care enough to look) gets hit by a car**

“Gesh.” Jake said. “She sounds like a catch. What about Gina, what’s she doing?” Amy typed Gina’s name into the search bar pulling up her account. 

“Well she’s not friends with me for some reason.” 

“Of course she’s not.” Jake said laughing. 

“But I can see a couple of her pictures.” Amy turned the laptop to Jake showing Gina holding what she assumed was a daughter. She scrolled through the pictures of Gina and the girl before stumbling upon a picture of Gina, Rosa and the girl.

“What’s Rosa doing there?” Jake questioned as Amy wondered the same thing.

“I don’t know.” she scrolled back up to the top. “Holy shit.”

“What?”

“It says that she’s married to Rosa Diaz as of 2016.” 

“No. But Rosa isn’t. Gay marriage isn’t.”

“It must be legal in the future and Rosa must be at least bi-sexual.”

“Good for her.” Jake said. “I’m glad that she found someone she loved and was able to get married to.”

Amy looked at Jake trying not to laugh. “Wow.” she finally said. “That’s really mature of you. I expected some kind of offense lesbian joke that’s been used way to often. Or something like ‘hawt’.” She said mimicking his voice.

“Why would I say that?” Jake asked a puzzling look on her face. “I hate people who say that when they find out their friend is gay or bi-sexual.” Amy smiled at him. There was a weird feeling in her chest. She was almost proud of him for being mature about it. “I guess I’m just surprised more than anything. I’ve never gotten that vibe from her. Like Holt is definitely gay but I’ve never sensed that from her.”

“You think Captain Holt is gay?” Amy asked. Jake looked at her like she was stupid. “He’s not gay.”

“Okay then why don’t we search him.” Jake suggested grabbing the laptop and searching Holt on Facebook. “Raymond Holt. He is friends with you if that makes you feel better about yourself.” Amy rolled her eyes, although it did make her feel better. She moved closer to Jake to see what was on the screen. “Woah. He’s the police commissioner now, that’s impressive.” Jake continued scrolling until he found what he was looking for. “And look at that. Raymond Holt is married to one Kevin Cozner. Do you know any girl Kevin’s Amy?” Jake asked mocking her.

“Shut up.” She said back to him taking the laptop. “He hasn’t posted anything on here except for a picture of all of us with the caption nine nine.” 

“It’s a good picture. I’m guessing that’s Shaws.” Jake said looking at the background. “What about his husband?” Amy clicked on Kevin’s page but shook her head.

“Nothing on here. So if Captain Holt is commissioner than who is captain of the nine nine?”

“Try Terry.” Jake said as Amy entered Terry Jeffords into the search bar. “Yep. He’s the captain.”

“That’s crazy!”

“He’s married to someone named Sharon. They have two twin daughter Cagney and Lacey.”

“Like the show, that’s so cute.” Jake gushed looking over at the picture of the two small girls.

“And another daughter named Ava. Here is a picture of you and her actually.” Amy said showing Jake the picture of him holding the newborn girl.

**November 22, 2017**

**Jake Peralta with Terry Jeffords and Sophia Perez**

**Hard to believe that I’m going to have one of these in just a few short months. Maybe they can be best friends. None the less congratulations to Sharon and Terry on their beautiful daughter.**

Jake clicked on the comments to pull up the two that were left.

_**Sophia Perez**_

_**This is so cute.** _

_**Terry Jeffords** _

_**You were great today. Sharon says that you were the best God-husband ever.** _

“I still can’t wrap my head around how that’s me in that picture.” Jake said as Amy continued to stare at the way he looked down at the baby. There was a look in his eyes that she had never seen before. Something of pure bliss. The love felt from the picture somehow came out of the computer and hit her right in the chest.

“Yeah.” She said still staring at him on the computer. She didn’t know why (She did but she refused to admit it) but something inside her stirred reading the words ‘I’m going to have one of these.’ It was so hard for her to imagine this man child next to her raising his own baby. 

“Can I see this back?” Jake asked as he took the computer not even waiting for his answer. He went back to his own page and she watched the way his eyes analyzed Sophia. “She’s pretty.” he finally said. “Kind of hard to believe that I could get someone like her.”

“What do you mean?” Amy asked.

“I don’t know.” He said still staring that the picture of Sophia and him. Sophia was wearing a long red dress while he was wearing a suit. They were dressed up for something but neither detective had any idea. “It’s just that she’s drop dead gorgeous and I’m you know.” He said running a hand through his hair. “She’s seem a little out of my league.”

“Well clearly you did something right.” Amy said gesturing to the next picture he pulled up where her arms was slung around him. She was looking at him with that same gaze that he looked at baby Ava with. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Jake clicked back onto Amy’s profile before handing the computer back to her. “Thanks Santiago. I should go now though, it’s getting late.” 

She checked her watch which read almost ten o’clock. “Oh of course. I’ll uh see you tomorrow at work I guess.”

“Yep.” He said putting on his coat. “I’ll see you then.”

\-----

It wasn’t unusual for Jake to run into Jenny as their apartments were right next to her. Still everytime he came home and saw her opening or closing his door he felt a little giddy. “Hi Jake.” She said as she closed her door while he made his way to his.

“Hey Jenny. How are you.”

“I’m okay.” She said. “Been better. My boyfriend just broke up with me. We were dating for almost a year and he ended things over text. Can you believe that? I’m sorry Stacey says that I need to work on not venting to random people. I’m trying to get better I swear.”

“Oh I don't mind.” Jake said while his mind ran a hundred miles an hour. She was available. And according to Amy he needed to stop being so hard on himself. If he could somehow get that Sophia girl then what was stopping him from getting Jenny.

Jenny laughed. “Look at you being so sweet. I wish Mark had been half as sweet as you. I gotta go have a good night.”

“You too.” Jake shouted down the hall trying his best to open his door while ignoring the fluttering feeling in his chest. She thought that he was sweet. 

Inside he quickly collapsed on his couch starting up the dvr’d episode of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’. It wasn’t long before the episode became background noise to his own thoughts. Jenny, Sophia, Amy. Stupid stupid Amy. 

Sure he wanted to be with Jenny so bad that it was sometimes all he thought about. She was cute and perfect in so many different ways. She was everything that he looked for in a girl. At one point he even heard her playing Die Hard in the next room over. 

Then there was Sophia who seemed perfect on whatever that website was called. He couldn't deny how happy he looked in those photos. She was beautiful in a different way then Jenny. Sophia was effortlessly beautiful. The kind of woman that other women were jealous of. He didn’t know anything about her other than what the rest of the world knows. But no matter how hard Jake tried, he couldn’t shake the smile on him in those pictures. It was a smile that he hadn't seen in a long time. Maybe even highschool girlfriend long time.

Lastly there was Amy. If Sophia was out of his league than Amy was out of his universe. If that even made sense. She was smart and kind. Way smarter than him and he knew that she deserved to be with someone just as smart. Like _William._ She was that girl who always had a smile on her face. If Amy walked into the bullpen tomorrow without a smile everyone would look up. Hell they do that anyways because that’s how well she captivates a room. Amy wasn’t just gorgeous, she was running on only coffee gorgeous. The thing about Amy was that Jake refused to think about her for more than five minutes. If he did his heart would start hurting thinking about how much he wanted her but that she would never want him back.

By the time Jake came back to reality the episode had been over for ten minutes and he realized he didn’t hear a single word of it. He got up off the couch and made his way to his room where he got in bed as quickly as he could. Maybe if he was lucky this would all be over in the morning. This entire thing would be some strange dream that him and Amy would laugh about.

\------

**April 13th, 2018**

**Sophia Perez With Jake Peralta**

**Can not express with words how excited I am to share this news with some of our closest family and friends. Jake and I are expecting baby number one in August of this year. We’ve decided to keep the gender a surprise. I’m still holding out hope for a boy while Jake is just convinced it’s a girl.**

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_It’s a girl. You’re insane to think it’s not a girl. She personally told me last night that she is a girl._ **

**_Sophia Perez_ **

**_Did she?_ **

Amy actually wanted to get sick locking at that picture of the two of them. Jake’s hands rested on her stomach. Why didn’t her and William have a kid. There was nothing on her page about a kid or being pregnant. Did William not want kids? Cause if he didn’t that was a deal breaker for her. Also why the hell wasn’t she working anymore? It was hard for Amy to imagine a world where she gave up her dreams of being captain all for some stupid boy.

**May 18th**

**Sophia Perez With Jake Peralta**

**Thank you all for our wonderful baby shower today. We loved all of the gifts and can’t wait to give them to our little boy (or girl).**

Amy looked at the picture that Sophia had attached with the post. Everybody from the nine nine was there except one person. Her. Why wasn’t she at the baby shower? Jake was still her friend in the future. That was the only way that she was seeing these posts. So why wouldn’t she have been at his baby shower? She clicked on the comments and quickly got her explanation.

**_Amy Scotch (Santiago)_**

**_So sorry that I couldn’t make it. William and I were out skiing in Colorado. I hope you guys had a wonderful shower though._ **

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_Missed you! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever when you get back we should definitely get back together. Preferably before the baby is born because then things are going to get way more hectic lol._ **

Amy felt something in her stomach twist with regret even though she wasn’t even the one who made the decision not to go. She skipped her best friends baby shower because her husband wanted to go skiing. Maybe she wanted to go skiing too, she couldn’t be sure, but as of right now she hated skiing with a passion. She didn’t even respond to Jake’s comment. 

It wasn’t easy now to see Jake with Sophia, but surely in the future when she was with William it didn’t matter. This thing with Jake it was just a silly little crush nothing more. But it hurt that she didn’t respond to that comment or bother showing up for his baby shower.

Amy clicked on her name again to get back to her page. The page took a second longer to load than usual and when it finally did load she felt the room around her begin to spin. How was _this_ possible?


	4. Chapter 4

“Charles for the last time. Could you please pick what you want to eat so we can go back to work.” Jake stopped for a second realizing what he just said. “Nevermind take as long as you need.”

“Thank you Jakey.” Charles said finally stopping in front of a food truck. “I refuse to put anything less than supreme onto this pallet.” He pointed at his tongue and Jake grimaced looking away. Once Charles placed his order with the food truck guy the two started making their way back to the precinct. “So how are things with Jenny?”

“They’re okay.” Jake said shrugging his shoulders. It was moments like these that he regretted ever telling Charles about Jenny. Then again it did feel nice though to have someone to talk to. “She broke up with her boyfriend.”

“Oh so are you going to make a move. You gonna lay down some of those classic Jakey one liners.”

“What?” Jake asked. “I don’t know. What if she doesn't buy it and it makes things awkward?”

“Well if you really like her then that’s a risk that you’re going to have to take. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t at least ask her.”

“I guess.” Jake said. Charles took a bite of his sandwich looking at the ground as he walked.

“This is so good.” He said right as he ran into a woman making her drop all the papers that she was holding. “Oh I’m so sorry.” Charles said leaning down and helping her pick up her things.

“It’s okay.” She said looking up and making eye contact with Charles. She cleared her throat when they both stood up. “Is that from Leon's barbeque?” She asked looking at his sandwich.

“It is. Have you been it’s great.”

“I was actually heading there right now. I’m Vivienne.”

“Charles.” Boyle said extending his hand to the woman who took and firmly shaked. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.” She said. “This is kind of out there for me, but would you like to exchange numbers and maybe we can go to dinner sometime or something?”

“I would love too.” Charles said pulling out his nokia. The two exchanged numbers before parting ways. “You see that?” Charles asked Jake when they were out of earshot. “She was brave and asked me out because she knew she would always regret it if she didn’t.”

“That’s great Charles, but I think this is a little different. Jenny lives right next to me, I see her all the time. Had you said no to that girl she probably would never see you again.”

“I guess.” Charles said as they made their way back into the bullpen.

“Jake!” Amy exclaimed as he got off the elevator. She ran over to him and he looked at her with concern.

“I’ve never seen you so excited to see me. What kind of drug are you on?”

“We’ve got a major problem. My place tonight. I’ll buy pizza.”She said before walking away from him.

\-----

“What is this major problems?” Jake asked taking a bite of the pizza that Amy had bought for him. Amy slid the computer across to him so he could see for himself. As he looked at his computer his mouth fell agap. “It changed.”

**May 17, 2018**

**Amy Watkins With Henry Watkins**

**One year ago I married my best friend and I’ve been so grateful to wake up next to you every morning since.**

**_Henry Watkins_ **

**_I’m the one that should be grateful._ **

“Yeah.” Amy said. “Not only do I now have a new husband, but I also have a job.”

Jake looked at the computer screen where her job was listed. “Holy shit. Captain of the nine nine. Congrats Santiago. I look forward to you being my boss.”

“Do you remember who was captain before?” 

“Terry.” Jake said. Amy grabbed the laptop from him and searched Terry’s account showing Jake what was on the computer. “You’re not even friends with him anymore.” Jake said an Amy shock her head. “Sergeant at the 82. Why do you think that he transfered?”

“I don’t know because I can’t see his account.” Amy said. 

“He’s not the only one that’s unfriended you.” Jake said showing her that he can’t get to Captain Holt’s account either. 

“What on Earth? Amy asked.

Jake quickly searched himself on the computer praying that he hadn’t unfriended her as well. It was really hard to imagine a world where he wasn’t her friend. “Mine changed too.” He said looking at a very non pregnant Sophia in the picture. Amy wasn’t proud of it but she did feel slightly relieved to see that. 

**May 17, 2018**

**Jake Peralta Shared A Memory With Sophia Perez**

**May 17, 2017  
Jake Peralta  
Having a blast down in the Jamaica with Sophia. Today we got to hike up a waterfall. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. **

“I didn’t go to your wedding?” Jake asked notcing the two dates were the exact same. Amy walked down the aisle to some guy named Henry Watkins, while Jake was out hiking up waterfalls with Sophia. “ I don’t understand why it’s changed. Did you do something last night?”

“No.” Amy said. “I didn't’ do anything. What could I have done that changed all of this?”

“I don’t know.” Jake said. “You said that you didn’t like being a stay at home, did you decide that you had to have a job in the future? Or did you decide that you didn’t want to be married to William?”

“Of course I wanted to have a job in the future. But why would that change anything. Me having a job shouldn’t affect William and I’s relationship.”

“But clearly it did.” Jake said. “And you deciding that you wanted to work caused Terry to transfer and unfriend you for some reason. And for me to lose my baby.”

“You’re still married to her. So what if the timeline changed just a little bit. I’m sure there will be plenty of time for you two to still have babies. I thought none of this mattered cause it wasn’t real?”

“I’m not saying it is real. But let’s pretend just for a second that it is. That means that you just altered the future causing all sort of repercussions.”

“I don’t know what to tell you.” Amy said. “There is no way that I was going to be some stay at home trophy wife to a neurosurgeon. And the fact that you can’t see that is insulting to me.”

“I agree with you Amy.” Jake said putting his hands in the air. “You are way too good of a detective to just quit and be someone’s wife. What I’m saying though is that clearly this is very fragile. You had one thought and two major things are different in your life.”

Amy took a deep breath. “I get it.” she said. “Your right this is fragile. But I don’t know how to fix it.”

“I don’t think you do. I think that this is your future now.” He said gesturing to the laptop. “Hopefully nothing major happens and it’s just the guy you married and being captain.”

“Yeah.” Amy agreed.

Jake left shorty after giving Amy plenty of time to stalk her new future husband, Henry Watkins. He was shorter than her had blonde hair and blue eyes like Williams. Was she into blonde hair blue eyes in the future? Part of her found that hard to believe considering right now all she wanted was someone with brown hair and brown eyes. Sure blue eyes were pretty like the ocean, but there was something that she liked about deep brown like chocolate. Or maybe she just liked Jake's eyes. But that couldn't be it. Right?

As she scrolled through his account she noticed one major problem about Henry. He was an open racists.

**April 16, 2018**

**Henry Watkins Shared A Post From Funny Jokes**

**How are black people and tornadoes the same? It only takes one to ruin a good neighborhood.**

**Henry Watkins**

**This hits close to home today. Feeling unsafe for myself and my wife at our apartment tonight due to new neighbors.**

Amy could feel her blood boiling in her veins reading his words. He put that on the internet for everyone to see. She covered her face and prayed that none of her friends were friends with this guy on facebook. Then suddenly it clicked in her brain why Terry and Holt weren't friends with her anymore on facebook. She married a racist. 

The amount of embarrassment she felt for something that hasn't even happened yet was insane. She couldn't marry this guy. Amy Santiago would never be married to someone who felt and spoke that way. She refreshed her page and page and prayed that Jake would understand.

\-----

“Guess who's got a date tonight?” Charles asked Jake when they were seated in his car during a stake out. “This guy.” Charles said pointing his thumbs back at himself.

“Congrats man.” Jake said. “Who's the lucky girl.”

“Vivienne. The girl that I ran into on the street the other day. We’re going to that new Japanese restaurant. She also runs a food blog so it’s a great thing for us to go do together. At the end we can share notes and everything.”

“Sounds like you got it all planned out then.”

“For sure. Afterwards I’m hoping that she’ll let me wash her hair. It’s the most romantic thing you can do for a girl.”

Jake grimaced shaking his head while trying to conceal a laugh. “Well I hope everything goes well for you then.”

\-----

“So what should we order?” Vivienne said when they were both seated. So far Charles was more than impressed by this restaurant. It was one of those Japanese ones where the cook cooked it right in front of you. When Charles was younger he always had birthday dinners at a restaurant like these, so sitting here brought him back to a happy place. An even better place when he saw the gorgeous woman sitting next to him

“I’m thinking the yakitori. What about you?” Charles said

“I’ll probably do the tempura but I’m sure the yakitori will be great.”

“We can totally share, I’d love to try the tempura.” Charles said.

“I would love love that.” Vivienne said.

Charles watched the chef prepare their food. He felt like a little kid enchanted by the fire and smell of delicious food. He just hoped his mouth wasn’t physically watering as that would affect how well he could use his musk.

“So why do you love cooking so much?” Vivienne asked him when they had their food set down in front of them.

“Well. My mom loved cooking and she always had these fantastic meals at our house. Food that would put Gordon Ramsey to shame.”

“That’s big talk. I think I need to try some of this food.”

“You totally should. Next time we’re having family dinner I’ll let you know! But I always grew up with good food on the table and eventually I want to continue the tradition with a family myself.”

“That’s sweet.” Vivienne said. “I guess mine is kind of similar. Parents always cooked big meals, before they got divorced. Once they separated it all kind of stopped and we became a pizza in front of the tv family. I always missed having a nice home cooked meal though.”

“I’m sorry that’s awful. No kid should be having pizza in front of the tv for dinner.”

“Agreed.” Viveen said laughing. “Do you want to try this?” She asked cutting off a piece of the tempera and stabbing it with her fork. 

“Yes.” Charles said opening his mouth. Vivienne put the fork in his mouth and he scraped the food off with his teeth never breaking eye contact. He then did the same to her with his yakitori. 

“Are you doing anything after this?” She asked once they were almost done with their food. 

“Nope. You?” Charles asked.

“No.”

“Ah. Would you like to come over for some _coffee_ then?”

“I would love too.”

\------

“Somebody had a good night.” Jake said when Charles finally strutted into the precinct wearing skinny jeans and tight shirt. 

“Oh confident Charles is back!” Gina exclaimed.

“That’s us!” One of the detectives Jake knew as Hitchcock shouted before heading up to the floor of detectives. 

“How was uh…” Jake snapped his finger several times trying to remember her name. 

“Vivienne.” Charles said helping Jake out. “She was amazing.” Charles said positively beaming. “She even let me wash her hair.”

“On the first date?” Amy asked.

“Boyle’s got moves.” Gina said. 

“I don’t mean to be dramatic, but I think that she might be the one. Even went out and bought this last night.” Charles said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out an engagement ring.

“Charles has gone full Boyle. This is an immediate lockdown. Code red.” Jake exclaimed. Amy looked down at the paperwork in front of her trying not to laugh. Jake had always been cute when he got excited or worked up about something. It was a fact that she hated to admit. 

“I have not.” Charles said trying to defend himself even though everyone in the bullpen knew full well that he indeed gone ‘full Boyle’.

\-----

Amy called Jake around midnight. “What Santiago?” Jake asked picking up on the first ring.

“Sorry did I wake you?”

“Wake me? It’s midnight. What am I a sixth grader? What’s up?” he asked

“You remember when we said that everything in the future was fragile or whatever?”

“Yeah.” Jake said. “What’d you do.”

“I don’t think it’s anything I did this time, I think it’s something Charles did.”

Jake sat up on his couch turning down the tv. “What do you mean?”

“He’s not married to Eleanor anymore. He’s married Vivienne since 2003.”

“That’s next year.” Jake said feeling far more alert than he was seconds ago. 

“I know.” Amy said. “There’s more.” Jake was silent on the other end of the line waiting for Amy to continue. “He doesn't live in New York anymore. He lives in Ottawa.”

“Canada!” Jake exclaimed. “What?”

“I know.” Amy said. “He must really love that girl.”

“Or he made a huge mistake and he just has no idea.”

“There are posts from 2018 Jake.” Amy said before reading one of them to him.

**Charles Boyle**

**March 3, 2018**

**Just got home from New York, feels good to be back in Ottawa though. New York will always be my home, but Ottawa's got my heart.**

“How could he just leave like that?” Jake asked Amy on the other end of the line. “We were supposed to die together, me in a fiery crash and he’ll commit suicide at my funeral out of respect.”

“You’re an awful friend.” Amy said continuing to scroll through Charles’s account. “Here’s another one.”

**Charles Boyle**

**December 20, 2017**

**Fourteen degrees this morning. Brrr. Luckily I have my baby to keep me warm. Plus all the warm food that we’re making.**?

“Fourteen degrees?” Jake shouted into the phone. “He complained the other day when it was forty degrees that he was going to die of hyperthermia. Made me give him my jacket.”

“That says something about you.” Amy said laughing. “I don’t know why you gave him your jacket.”

“Because contrary to what you think Santiago, I’m a good friend.”

“Uh huh sure.”

“What else has changed because of this?” Jake asked. Amy bit the inside of her check debating if she should tell him that she’s now been through two more husbands. He was going to be pissed, but maybe he would understand. Henry was a raging racists and there was no way she would marry him. Nathan seemed better though and she could see things working with him.

“Uh.” Amy said. “I have a new husband.”

“Different than Henry?” Jake asked.

“You remember his name?” 

Jake stumbled over his words for a second. “Of course I remember his name it wasn’t that long ago that you told me it.” He finally said. 

“Yeah different than Henry. This guy is Nathan Morris.” Amy said closing her eyes shut ready for him to yell at her about how delicate this was.

“What was wrong with Henry?” Jake asked far calmer than she had expected.

“He was a racists. You remember how we were wondering why Terry and Holt unfriended me? It was because my husband was posting offensive shit on the internet.”

“Like what?” Jake asked.

“Does it matter?” Amy asked. “Just stupid racist jokes. One of them he said that we had new black neighbors and he was worried for my safety.”

“Oh so he was probably sexist too. If there’s anyone that can take care of themselves it’s you.”

“Thanks.” Amy said. “Your account looks the same though if it makes you feel any better You’re still married to Sophia. This time though you did go to my wedding.”

“What about kids? Do we have kids in this timeline?”

“Not yet.” Amy said. “You don’t post on there as much now so it’s hard to tell.”

“Oh.” Jake said. “What about you? Do you have kids?” If Amy didn’t know any better she would say there was the slightest bit of hope in his voice.

“Nope.” She said. 

“That’s cool. Kids are dumb anyways.”

“Yeah. I’m going to go bed now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Good call.” Jake said yawning into the phone. “Have a good night.”

“You too.” She didn’t hang up instead she listened to the sound of his breathing on the other end of the line. She liked to imagine that maybe he was doing the same. Maybe he didn’t want to hang up either.


	5. Chapter 5

“Why are you all dressed up today?” Amy asked Jake as soon as he walked into the precinct. Jake adjusted his tie nervously feeling far more self conscious standing in front of her than he did in front of the mirror. 

“I have court today.” Jake said sitting down at his desk.

“Fun.” Amy said. Most people would’ve assumed it was sarcastic but Jake knew that she meant it.

“Peralta.” Holt said walking out of his office. “I assume you will be on your best behavior during court today?”

Jake automatically straighten up. “Yes sir.”

“Good. I’m glad to see you managed to find a tie.” Holt said before turning to walk away.

“Oh captain!” Amy said getting up from her desk and chasing after him into his office.

\------

“Chill out man.” Terry said sitting next to Jake. “This is not that big of a deal.”

“I know. I just really want to make sure this guy gets what he deserves. I literally saw him break into and steal that car.”

“I know.” Terry said. “I’m sure he will. We have an eye witness.”

“Jake Peralta to the stand.” The judge called and Jake made his way to the stand raising his hand and swearing under oath. Jake was nervous before but when the defense attorney was introduced, Sophia Perez he was suddenly far more nervous.

“Hi. I’m Sophia.” She said strolling up to the stand and shaking her hand. Standing in front of him she was so more pretty than the pictures did her justice. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down enough to make sure Wilson gets jail time for what he did. 

Sophia grilled him over every little detail of the case. Sure it felt like a personal attack, but he had to respect how good she was at her job. It was just unfortunate that her job was defending criminals.

Soon he was done on the stand and made his way back to his seat where Terry was seated. “That was good.” Terry said. “As long as nothing we don’t know about comes up then we should be good.”

“The defense would like to call a special witness Andrew Williams to the stand.” 

“Oh no.” Jake said. “This is bad. This is real bad.”

“What?” Terry asked. “Who is that?”

“It’s his alibi.” Jake said his legs starting to shake. “We looked everywhere for this guy. There was no record of him existing. He was made up.”

Williams made his way to the stand and gave his testimony on being with Wilson during the time of the robbery. “This is bad.” Terry said

“He’s lying. I saw Wilson steal that car.” Jake whispered to Terry. The two of them sat in silence while they waited for the verdict of the case. "That's not Andrew Williams. Andrew Williams does not exist."

\----

“What’s wrong with you?” Amy asked when Jake came back into the bullpen. His tie long forgotten and collar of his shirt sticking up.

“We lost our case.” He said huffing and sitting down at his desk. 

“I’m sorry.” Amy said offering a small smile towards him. “It happens to the best of us.”

“Sofia was the defense attorney.” Jake said and Amy’s eyes widen.

“Did you know her or something?” Terry asked. “I’ve never seen her before.”

“Me neither.” Jake covered. “You wanna come over for pizza and a movie tonight?” He asked Amy. “I’ll buy and you don’t have to bring the computer. It’ll be just us.”

“Sure. I’d love too. But I am not watching Die Hard. I will pick the movie.”

“Ugh.” Jake said. “I take back the invitation.”

“Too late.”

\----

“I know you said that we would just watch a movie here, but I want to see the new Harry Potter.” Amy said.

“What no. I can’t afford a movie ticket and pizza.” Jake said. 

“I will buy our tickets. And if you go I’ll even buy you the large popcorn all for yourself.”

“Deal.” Jake said. The two so happenly left his apartment at the exact same time as Jenny. Amy could tell that Jake was a little flustered running into her. 

“Hi Jake.” She said with a large smile.

“Hey Jenny. How are you.”

“I’m good.” She said eyeing Amy up and down once. Amy uncomfortably messed with the hem of her shirt. Of course Jake was into her. She was younger than Amy and far more attractive. Her blonde hair was effortlessly curled and she actually went through the effort of putting on makeup before she left the house. “You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.” Jenny said after a moment.

“Oh I- Amy isn't- She’s not-”

“We’re not dating.” Amy said for Jake since he couldn’t seem to find the words to use.

“Oh. Sorry.” She said.

“I’ll see you around Jake.” She said winking before she walked away. 

Jake and Amy made their way down the hallway silently before Amy spoke. “She seems nice.” It was the only thing Amy could think of and she wasn’t completely convinced that she believed it.

“She is.” Jake said glancing over his shoulder once as if she was still going to be standing there. 

“She looks like she would be your type.” Jake just shrugged his shoulder as the two of them got into the elevator. 

The movie wasn’t nearly as busy as Amy had expected it to be. “Have you seen the first one?” She asked when they were both settled into their chairs. He was already trying, and failing, to catch popcorn with his mouth.

“No.” He said. “But I’ve read the books.” He said so casually that Amy actually questioned if she imagined him saying that.

“Shut up!” She said sitting up straight into the chair to look at him.

“What?” He asked. “They were good and interesting.” He left out the part that the sole reason he read seven books was to somehow impress the girl sitting next to him.

“You, ‘I’ve only read fifteen books’ read all seven Harry Potter books?” 

Jake nodded. “I’ve now read twenty-two books. Aren’t you proud of me?”

“Actually yes. You even did the math right.” Amy said smiling over at him tucking her hair behind her ears before relaxing into her chair. 

She reached over and tried to take some popcorn before her hand got swatted away. “Mine.” Jake said. Amy rolled her eyes as the credits begin to start. 

Much to her surprise, when she glanced over at Jake halfway through the movie he was actually paying attention. Meanwhile her mind was occupied solely with him. And Jenny. And Sophia. Amy yawned finding the day’s work finally catching up to her. She leaned over in her seat and rested her head on Jake’s shoulder. She could lie and say it meant nothing, but she’s wanted to know what it would be like for a while now and now seemed like a perfect time.

Jake looked down at her, her eyes trained on the screen. His heart was racing far faster than it had been two seconds before. In a whim he put his arm on the back of the seat, his hand casually on Amy’s shoulder. He hoped that he wasn't crossing a line. That this wouldn't ruin their friendship. 

Amy shifted slightly closer to him. She wished movie theaters had those reclining seats like the ones she had seen on her facebook page from when her and Henry had gone to the movies. His arm around her felt nice, there was no point in denying that. There was an aching in her chest, that she would later identify as longing, to be even closer to him. In the back of her mind she knew that feeling was always there.

\----

It wasn’t until the next morning that Amy checked facebook and felt her heart drop. She wasn’t married to anyone anymore. Her and Nathan get divorced in 2016

**May 18th 2018**

**Amy Santiago**

**I just have this happy personality and a sad soul in one body. It feel weird sometimes.**

**_Luis Santiago_ **

**_Did you find this on pinterest?_ **

Amy scrolled until she found the posts from 2016. What happened between the two of them. They seemed happy the last time she had checked.

**February 4, 2016**

**Amy Santiago**

**Nathan and I are officially divorced today. Part of me still can’t believe that he chose her, but there’s nothing to do about it now. Just glad to not be some man side piece anymore (even though I was the wife).**

Amy shut the laptop and put her head in between her hands. She groaned in frustration. She probably would’ve been better of William at this point. At least he wasn’t cheating on her or a racist. She opened the laptop again and found herself typing in Jake’s name before she could even think about what she was doing. Once again, looking at his profile her heart shattered into a million pieces. 

**May 18th, 2018**

**Jake Peralta**

**Love you with all of my heart.**

The post was attached with an image of him and Jenny in some park walking a dog. Amy slammed the laptop shut refusing to look anymore at it. Why did he get to be happy with her? The way he looked at Jenny made her want to puke. Why couldn't some guy look at her like that. She had been through three husbands now and none of them looked at her the way Jake looked at Jenny or even Sophia for that matter.

\----

Amy watched Jake talk to Gina later that night at Shaws. The only though on her mind was him and Jenny. He was going to be ecstatic when he found out. A good friend would’ve told him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“That movie last night was so good. I’m really looking forward to the next one. We should go together again.” Jake said making his way over to her. "Also we should do a movie night so I can watch the first one. I'm sure that you have it."

“Yeah, that would be fun. I still can’t believe that you read the books.” Jake shrugged like it was no big deal. “Hey listen-” She started before spotting Rosa and Gina over Jake’s shoulder. The two girls were caught up in conversation laughing about something. “Don’t be obvious but turn around and look at Rosa and Gina.

Jake casually glanced over a shoulder, a wide smile on his face when he faced Amy again. “I’ve never seen Rosa smile.”

“Or laugh!” Amy exclaimed.

Jake casually looked back over his shoulder. “They both look so happy. I’m happy for them.”

“Me too.” Amy said smiling. 

“What was it you were gonna say?” Jake asked.

“Oh. Don’t worry about.” She said once again feeling like an awful friend. Yet she just couldn’t bring herself to tell him that he was married to the girl of his dreams. Perfect Jenny Gildenhorn.

“I’m going to go get another drink.” Jake said. 

“I’ll go with you.” She said following him.

\-----

Gina had five drinks before she reduced herself to watching Charles play pool. It was probably, definitely, the alcohol talking but for some reason she found herself enchanted by his bubble butt when he leaned over the table. It was a scary thought for sure, but yet for some reason she couldn’t quite shake it.

“Why are you staring at me?” Charles finally asked her when it wasn’t his turn to shoot. 

“Oh no reason.” Gina said feeling her cheeks grow red. Charles could not know that for a moment she had been attracted to him. 

“Okay.” Charles said going back to aiming up his shoot. Gina was definitely going to need some more alcohol for this.

\----

Four drinks later and Amy was in the backseat of a cab with Jake by her side. She was very aware of how close they were sitting although it wasn’t nearly close enough. “I think you’re cute.” Amy said poking his nose and laughing hysterically.

“You think I’m cute?” Jake asked smiling at her while she laughed. She nodded her head once. “Tell me Santiago how cute do you think I am?”

“You’re like the fluffy puppies at the store. Or the hamster with their cheeks full of food.” Amy said grabbing onto his cheeks and pulling them out to the side while continuing to laugh. “Or like Channing Tatum.” 

“Oh.” Jake said a large smile on his face. He knew that he was dealing with four drink Amy and she could be a bit of a perv. While he would never do anything with her while she was this intoxicating there was nothing wrong with hearing out what she had to say. “So you think I’m hot?”

“Yes. That’s the word. Hot. Like fireworks on the fourth of July. Sometimes when I see you at work with your sleeves rolled up it gets really hard to concentrate because all I can focus on are your hands and forearms. More hands. I’ve kinda got a thing for nice hands.” Amy said.

“Wow Amy I never pictured you as one to have kinks.” 

“Oh I have plenty of kinks. Got a whole binder full of them at home.”

“A sex binder?” Jake asked. “Now this I got to see.”

“In my dreams.” Amy said and Jake wondered if she realized the slip up she just made. He tried to brush it off. Amy was no interested in him. She didn’t dream about him. She didn’t want him in that way. 

When the cab pulled up to the curb in front of her building Jake helped her out and walked her up to her door. “Do you want to come inside?” She asked her speech slurred. “I’ll show you the binder.” 

“I am going to come inside.” Jake said to her. “But I’m not going to look at that binder. I’m going to get you to bed and then leave.”

“I’m only getting in bed if you’re getting in bed too.” Amy said as she unlocked her door and let him into her apartment. They made their way to her bedroom and Amy sat down at the foot of her bed watching Jake dig through her drawers. He pulled out a pair of sweatpants and old shirt from the academy. 

“I’ll turn around while you change.”

As she started to take off her shirt, Jake turned around to face the wall. There was a framed picture of the squad by the door that caught his attention and made him smile. “You can turn around now.” Amy said. Amy made her way to her bed and climbed in struggling to pull the comforter up.

Jake took the comforter from her and pulled it up around her. “I’m sorry.” She said after a second. “It’s hard for me you know.”

“What?” Jake asked sitting down next to her. She was already wrapped in her blankets like a burrito. 

“You and Jenny. I know that I should be happy for you since you like her so much. But I’m not. I feel like a bitch for not telling you but I just couldn’t bring myself to doing it. I was hoping it would go away just like Nathan did.”

“What are you talking about Ames?” Jake asked.

“You’re married to Jenny in the future now. Nathan cheated on me and we got divorced so I’m alone and you’re married to perfect Jenny and I hate it.” Jake felt the room spinning around him. He was going to get to marry Jenny Gildenhorn. He had so many fantasies about being her husband. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.” 

“It’s okay.” Jake said. 

“It’s just that I really like you Jake. Like really like you.” Jake looked at her for a second. Her eyes were already starting to flutter closed. 

“You don’t mean that.” He said after a second. “It’s just the alcohol talking.” She opened her mouth to protest but her eyes closed and stayed closed. He leaned down and pressed a kiss against her somewhat clammy forehead. “Goodnight Amy.” He said before leaving her apartment.

\----

It took three drinks for Rosa to feel brave enough to say the words she had been screaming in her head. She needed to say them outloud, she just couldn’t do it yet. Not to anyone she knew at least. But this stranger sitting her flirting with her, well maybe she could tell him. 

She downed another shot before turning to the man that definitely never stood a chance with her. “I’m sorry, I’m not interested. I’m...bisexual.” She said finding her confidence after saying the word. She was bi and nothing was going to change that. It felt strange to confess that to a random stranger, but yet it still felt better than carrying it around like a weight. For the first time in a long time she felt like she could breath. Someone knew. Somebody knew the truth about her.

“Oh.” He said. “That’s cool. I don’t really care as long as you are attracted to men.”

“That’s kind of what bi-sexual means.” She said annoyed. “So yeah I’m attracted to men, but this.” She gestured between the two of them. “Is not happening tonight. Sorry.” She grabbed another shot before heading out of Shaws and into the cool air of the night.

\----

Two drinks in and Terry started talking to the pretty girl that was making eyes at him all night. “Hey. I’m Terry, can I buy you a drink.”

“Sure.” She said with a pleasant smile. “I’m Molly.” Terry flagged down the bartender and Molly ordered a drink. “So Terry.” she said with a smile that made its way up to her eyes. “What do you do for a living.” 

“I’m a sergeant for the NYPD.” He said with a smile. He tried to not be too arrogant about his title but he still loved to flouce it just a little bit. “How about you?”

“I work at the national parks. I travel around to each state and follow animals around the park tracking their migration habits. It’s a really cool job and I wouldn’t do anything else.” 

“That’s awesome. Terry’s always wanted to travel the world. What’s the best state that you’ve been to?”

“I love Alaska.” She said without a hesitation of doubt. “That’s where I grew up. Lived in an igloo.”

“Really?” Terry asked. He was too tipsy to tell if she was telling the truth or not.

“No.” She said laughing. “That’s just what everybody assumes when I tell them I’m from Alaska.”

“Why’d you move down here?” He asked.

“I didn’t really.” She said. “I move all of over the place. I don’t really have a permanent home, but I’m trying to find one somewhere.” Just then a couple of girls around her age came over and started whispering something into her ear. “I have to go.” She said with a sad smile. “Can I give you my number though.” 

“Of course.” Terry said as she jotted her number down on a napkin.

“Call me sometime.” She mouthed as she her friends drug her out of the bar.

\----

Gina woke up in a bed that wasn’t hers. She blinked several times trying to adjust to the light. When she finally opened her eyes she glanced over at the clock that read at nine am. She looked over to the side and let out an audible scream when she saw Charles Boyle laying next to her. This was not happening, she was dreaming, that was the only possible explanation.


	6. Chapter 6

Holt sat outside the commissioners door in one police plaza. Today was the day that he was going to come out to his co-workers, starting with the police commissioner. Sure, he was nervous as to what some of his co-workers were going to say. But at this point, he felt as if most of the nine nine would be more than accepting.

The office door opened and Raymond immediately stood up on his feet extending his hand to the police commissioner, John Baker. “How are you today?” John asked him ushering Holt into his office.

“I’m good.” Raymond replied. “How are you.”

“Great.” Baker said. “What can I do for you on this fine fine Monday?”

“It’s not so much something you can do for me.” Raymond started. “I just wanted to let you know that I am...gay.” He said. “I plan to come out to my precinct today, but I wanted you to know as well.”

The little office was uncomfortably quiet until John burst out laughing. He leaned forward in his chair hitting his desk once. “That’s funny Ray. That’s really funny.”

“I was not trying to be funny.” Holt said curtly.

John continued to laugh hitting his desk several times. “You’re cracking me up, we should do this more often.” Holt didn’t say anything as he waited for the man to settle down. Baker took a couple of deep breaths and looked up at Holt’s serious face. “Oh.” He said. “You’re serious?”

“Yes.” Holt said.

“Well that’s...wow. I don’t even know what to say.” Baker said after a second shaking his head slightly.

“I’m not asking for your approval.” Holt said. “I just wanted to let you know first since I will be coming out to the nine nine today.”

“I can’t believe that we have a black gay police captain. The wife is never going to believe this one.”

“I believe that it is very progressive and will look really good for the department.”

Baker nodded staring straight ahead. “Are you sure that you want to do this?” Baker asked Holt. “With budget cuts, you could be the first one to go. Most of these old people aren’t okay with the black thing and they definitely won’t be okay with the gay thing.”

“Are you suggesting that I stay in the closet to not lose my job?” Holt asked feeling anger rise up in his chest. “Because if you are that’s blackmail.”

“What?” John asked. “Raymond. I’m not trying to blackmail you. I’m just trying to tell you what may happen if you come out to everyone today.”

“I’ll do whatever I want. I expect the nine nine to be fully supportive of me and my decision.”

“Okay.” John said. “It’s you grave.”

\------

Amy woke up the next morning with a pounding headache and no recollection of last night. She opened her eyes slowly to the bright light, looking around she noticed the bottle of aspirin and a glass of water on her nightstand. Kudos to drunk Amy she thought. 

After showering and changing into work clothes, God work was going to be awful, Amy finally made her way to checking Facebook. Much to her disappointment Jake was still married and madly in love with Jenny.

**October 19, 2019**

**Jake Peralta with Jenny Peralta**

**Jenny made breakfast this morning. Best eggs I’ve ever had.**

**_Amy Santiago_ **

**_I used to make you eggs all the time and you said that you were allergic._ **

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_That’s because your eggs were disgusting_ **

Why was she making eggs for Jake ‘all the time’? She thought as she clicked back onto her profile. Most of the posts she had seen the other night, but as she continued to scroll, she found posts that she had never seen before. Lots of them.

**March 12, 2017**

**Amy Santiago**

**I miss someone that I never thought I would miss.**

**March 12, 2017**

**Amy Santiago**

**Heard with every heartbeat on the radio today and thought of him. It really does hurt. “Still dying with every step I take and it hurts with every heartbeat.”**

**March 2, 2017**

**Amy Santiago**

**I really hope that I don’t have to go to his wedding. I can’t even imagine having to watch him wait for her under the altar.**

**January 17, 2017**

**Amy Santiago**

**This is why they say it’s a bad idea to date your co-workers.**

**January 3, 2017**

**Amy Santiago**

**I wish that i had been more honest. I wish that I held him a little tighter. I wish that I appreciated him more when I had him. I wish that I had told him I loved him.**

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_AMY STOP!!_ **

Amy groaned and put her head in her hands. Her head was hurting way to much to deal with this right now. She took a deep breath before continuing to scroll until she found exactly what she was looking for.

**December 15**

**Amy Santiago changed her relationship status from in relationship with Jake Peralta to single.**

She scrolled back up to the top of her page wanting to ignore all those posts. _She wished that she had told him she loved him._ Those words were burned into the back of her eyelids. She could almost hear them screaming out at here. 

She wasn’t dating Jake last night before the bar, so what had changed? Amy tried to remember everything that had happened, everything that she had said, but she was not coming up with anything. She didn’t even have that much to drink. Four shots maybe? Four shots, shit she thought. All she wanted to do was slam her head into the table. What the hell did four drink Amy tell him that would cause the two of them to date, him to leave, and her be miserably obsessed with him?

If that much had changed in one night for her, what happened to the rest of them. She searched Rosa first. She was particularly quiet at the bar from what Amy could remember. Rosa’s account was surprisingly different as well. For starters she was married to man this time. One with crazy curly hair, named Adrian Pimento. 

There were no posts at all on her account, which didn’t surprise Amy given how closed off she was. In fact it surprised Amy a little that she was even on here. Still it didn’t make sense why she wasn’t together with Gina anymore.

Gina was the next person Amy searched, and her account was different with a capital D. According to her profile she was dating Charles Boyle. Amy even had to click on Charles name to make sure that this wasn’t some hungover thing. But sure enough Charles and Gina were in a relationship. Nothing about that made sense at all to Amy. What so ever. Charles was nice, but he didn’t really seem like Gina’s type. At all.

**May 12, 2018**

**Gina Linetti with Charles Boyle**

**I am never going to a restaurant that you pick out again. That food was absolutely disgusting on so many different levels.**

Amy clicked on Charles profile. He no longer owned a restaurant, but he did own a food truck serving meatball subs. Amy wrinkled her nose in disgust looking at one of the pictures that he had posted onto his page. She still couldn't get over the fact that he was dating Gina. 

Terry’s account was next. His hadn’t changed so far. Much to her surprise when the page loaded he wasn’t married to Sharon anymore. Now he wasn’t married at all. The three daughters that he had with Sharon were gone. Which explained why that picture of Jake holding Ava also disappeared. Now Terry had a son named Jason. 

**June 17, 2017**

**Terry Jeffords**

**Looking forward to spending the week in Alaska with Jason. The sun literally never sets here. It’s amazing.**

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_I love that you go up there to see him. I think that’s really cool #dadgoals._ **

Amy scrolled through his account looking at all of his various pictures and posts. From what she could tell Jason must have lived up in Alaska. 

**January 5, 2016**

**Terry Jeffords**

**Temperature in Alaska today was -25 and Jason still had to go to school. Kids in New York need to grow up! He said the teachers even considered doing outdoor recess.**

**_Amy Santiago_ **

**_I’m calling bullshit on the outdoor recess, in windchill of -16 frostbite can occur within thirty minutes._ **

Amy rolled her eyes at how much of a know it all that comment came across. It was clearly a joke that she didn’t seem to get in the future. Is this what she's become? Some girl obsessed with Jake Peralta and leaving know it all comments on her friends posts. 

She went to search Captain Holt but couldn’t even find his account today. At least he hadn't blocked her like last time. Then again she wasn’t married to a racist anymore, so there was _some_ positives to her future. 

When she looked at the clock she nearly had a heart attack realizing that she was going to be late if she didn’t practically run to the precinct. She quickly shut her computer, grabbed her bag and hurried out of her apartment. 

\-----

“Amy!” Jake said when she walked into the precinct. She mentally kicked herself for the fact that Peralta was there before her. That can’t be good. Plus she really didn’t want to look at him right now, not when she knew how miserable he made her in the future. Or how miserable she made herself being head over heels in love with him.

“Jake.” She said sitting down at her desk.

“I’m surprised to see you’re awake.” He said looking over at her. There was a soft expression on his face that she couldn’t exactly place. “Last night was pretty crazy.”

“Yeah.” Amy said in agreement turning on her monir and starting to look through her paperwork when the meaning of his sentence sunk in. “Which part in particular?”

“Oh I don’t know.” Jake said. “Any time four drink Amy comes out to play things always seem to get a little bit crazy.” He said with a smirk.

“Oh God.” She said her head was throbbing and she was not ready to have this conversation with him. How would you even start that? ‘Oh so as it turns out we are going to date in the future. You’re probably going to break up with me and I’m going to become psycho obsessed with you’. “What exactly did I say.” she settled with.

“Typical pervy stuff. You tried to get pretty handsy with me in the backseat of the cab. The driver thought you were a prostitute.”

“Noooo.” Amy whined. “I’m sorry Jake. I swear I didn’t mean any of that. It was all the alcohol talking.” She watched his face slightly fall before he returned his signature smirk.

“I was kidding about all of that. You weren't bad in the taxi and even if you were I bet the drivers seen way worse.”

“Are you kidding me?” She asked glaring at him. “You just made all that up because you thought it would be funny?”

“It was slightly funny.” Jake said.

“Squad.” Holt announced as he walked into the bullpen. He looked angry. At least Amy thought he looked angry, she couldn’t get a read on him yet. It kept her up at night sometimes. “This is Teddy Wells and Marcus Scott from the 8-2. They will be working with us on the Weidner case.” 

“That’s our case.” Jake hissed at Amy from across the table. “These two bozos better not take it away from us like the vulture.”

“Did you not just hear the captain say that they are going to be working _with_ us?” Amy whispered across the desk to him. Amy watched the captain point to her and Jake before walking into his office and slamming the door shut. 

“What do you think wrong with him today?” Jake asked as the two detectives made their way towards their desks.

“Hi. I’m Amy.” She extending her hand to each man ignoring Jake's question.

“Teddy Wells.” Teddy said with a friendly smile. She and Jake shock both their hands before heading into the briefing room to catch them up on the details of the case. 

\----

Amy watched Terry stand up to meet the girl that came into the office. She was a pretty brunette, she looked a little young for Terry but that's besides the point. Amy watched the two talk and and the girl laugh. It took Amy a second to place her but then she figured it out. According to facebook her name was Molly Kemper. A.K.A Jason’s mother. 

“Santiago?” Terry asked startling her slightly. She hoped that it wasn’t obvious that she had been staring at the two. “Can you tell the captain that I’m going out to lunch?”

“Yeah of course.” Amy said watching the two walk out of the precinct together. Once she was sure that he was gone she went over to his desk and found his wallet sitting there. He was probably going to be back for that pretty soon. Luckily everyone around her was in lunch break so they didn’t notice her rifling through her sergeants wallet. 

She finally found a condom which was expired. She took it out of his wallet and threw it away in the trash can. She ran her hands through her hair trying to think about where she could get another one before the sarge came back realizing that he didn’t have any money. She usually thought things through more than this. Must have been the stupid hangover.

“Jake!” She said as he walked out of the break room. “Do you have a condom?” She closed mentally cringing for how that came across. 

Jake arched his eyebrows and gave her a poignant look as well as a smirk. “Gettin it on during work time?” Jake asked. “Who's the lucky guy? Is it Teddy? I could totally see you banging Teddy he seems straight up your alley.”

“What?” Gross!” Amy said. “Look a lot of things changed on facebook last night, I can’t get into it right now. That girl that Terry left with is going to end up having his baby. He’s going to be a single parent with a kid living in Alaska”

“What happened to Sharon, the twins and Ava?” 

“They’re gone and I’m trying to get them back.” Amy said glancing at the elevator door. She figured it was only a matter of time before Terry was back. “So do you have a condom or not?” 

Jake pulled out his wallet before handing one over to her. “Large?” She asked out loud although she didn’t mean to. Her cheeks instantly grew red. She put the condom into Terry’s wallet hoping Jake would just let go. 

Of course it was Jake she was talking about. “Yeah Santiago, you gotta a problem with that?”

“Shut up Peralta.” She said making her way back over to her own desk.

\-----

Amy checks facebook later that night, first searching Terry Jeffords. She sighed a breath of relief when it pulled up his account. He was once again married to Sharon with the twins and Ava. Everything was back to normal for Terry

Next she looks at her account. She had decided earlier today that she was going to scroll until she found what went wrong with her and Jake. Much to her surprise, future her is no longer obsessed with Jake. Her name is no longer Amy Santiago, now it says her name is Amy Wells. She furrowed her eyebrows trying to remember where she heard that name before. As she scrolls through her account and sees the picture of her husband it hits her. The detective from the 8-2.

**November 22, 2018**

**Amy Santiago**

**Had such a great thanksgiving. So great to see all of the family. I miss you guys so much.**

The picture was all of her family sitting around a table. Teddy was sitting next to her, his arm resting on the back of her chair. She was smiling warmly at the camera and for the first time in a long time Amy felt good about what she was seeing on this page. Teddy was great when she meet him today. He seemed like a really dedicated detective, which she loved. They seemed like they shared a lot of the same values.

**November 23, 2018**

**Amy Santiago**

**Day after Thanksgiving is always the day we put up the tree. Beats going out into black friday shopping by a long run. Although I did see a good deal on an Ipad that I may have to head out for tonight.**

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_Which store you going to? I’m going to walmart, they are selling Xboxes for 190 dollars._ **

**_Amy Santiago_ **

**_What happened to your other xbox?_ **

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_I spilt my ramen all over it_ **

Only Jake would spil Ramen on his xbox. She imagined that Jenny was probably mad but then she remembered that she didn’t give a damn about Jenny and him. That was the only way that she was going to survive.


	7. Chapter 7

“Guess who's got a date with Jenny Gildenhorn?” Jake boasted as he walked into the precinct early the next morning. Amy glanced up from her desk before looking back down. She didn’t care she told herself over and over again.

“You asked her out?” Charles asked clearly very excited. “Way to go Jakey!” 

“Where are you taking her?” Terry asked.

“Dinner and probably a movie.” Jake said. “The ideal first date.” Amy kept her head down trying to work on her paperwork. She refused to be apart of this conversation.

“That’s nice.” Terry said. “I hope that it works out for you.”

“Oh it’s going to.” Jake said with a cocky grin sitting down across from Amy. After the conversation had died down and everyone had gone back to doing work Jake leaned across the desk to talk to Amy. “What do you think I should wear tonight?” He asked.

Amy glanced up at him and tried to hide how little she cared. Or rather how much she cared. The less she knew about his date tonight the better. “I don’t know.” 

“Oh come on.” Jake said. “If you were Jenny what would you want me to wear?” 

She scrunched her nose. The last thing that she wanted to do was imagine that she was Jenny. Or that she was going on a date with Jake. “I like it when guys dress clean. Nice shirt and a tie. Can’t go wrong with khakis or dark grey or black pants.”

“Jeans?” 

“Probably not. It depends on what restaurant you’re going to.”

“The Seafire Grill.”

Amy’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious? That is a nice restaurant, I’m impressed Jake.”

“Thank you. So are jeans okay or not.”

“No jeans are not okay.” Amy said to him.

“Do I have to wear a tie. I hate them, feel like I’m being choked.”

“If you’re going to Seafire Grill, then yes I would wear a tie. Besides it’ll show her that you care enough to get dressed up.” It hurt her heart a little to think of him dressing up for some other girl. A part of her wished that he was dressing up for her. You have Teddy she reminded herself. 

“Thanks Ames. I appreciate it.” She smiled down at her paperwork trying to hide the blush at the nickname.

“You’re welcome.” She said tucking her hair behind her ears. Jake smiled slightly before returning back to his paperwork as well.

\-----

“You look lovely.” Jake said upon seeing Jenny in a dark green dress. Her hair was curled and falling beautifully down her shoulders. He couldn’t believe that this woman was going to be his wife someday.

“You look nice as well.” She said smiling warmly at him. The two made their way to the restaurant where they got a table for two. “This is restaurant is amazing.” She said. “I can’t believe that you were able to get a table.”

“Guess I just got lucky.” he said with a smile. 

The two fell into conversation pretty easily. Much easier than Jake expected. Most of Jake’s first dates were filled with awkward icebreaker questions that neither knew exactly how to answer. But with Jenny it was just simple. “So your dad’s an airline pilot but you’ve never left New York as a kid?” Jenny asked laughing a little bit.

“Yep.” Jake said smiling. “Like I said he wasn’t around a lot, really at all, so his job didn’t give me a lot of rewards.”

“That’s sucks man.” Jenny said. “I traveled all the time when I was younger.”

“Where was your favorite place?” 

“Oh gosh. I don’t know. The list just goes on. Australia was gorgeous. Hawaii was spectacular. I honestly thought about moving to London.” She said laughing slightly. “I think I could pull off a pretty good British accent.” She said doing a terrible accent.

Jake burst out laughing. “You definitely could not.”

“Oh come on it’s not that bad.” She said smiling while trying to defend herself. “I dunno I liked Havana a lot though.”

“My friends parents are from there. She goes down there a lot. From her pictures it seems like a pretty cool place.” 

“What about you? You had to travel at least somewhere.”

“Uh.” Jake said trying to think of anything good. “I don’t know. We went to Florida once when I was a teenager, but it’s a garbage state.” she laughed taking another sip of her champagne. They had been done eating for a while now and we’re just sitting talking. “I liked Maine. I went up there one year during college with a couple of friends for a wedding. It was pretty and I decided that I like lobster.”

“Lobster’s pretty good.” Jenny agreed as Jake’s phone rang Amy’s picture lighting up the screen.

“Sorry I have to take this, it’s work.”

“Oh no problem. I get it.” Jenny said as Jake got up from the table and walked around the corner to the hall where the bathrooms were. It was a little loud in the restaurant so down there it was easier to hear. 

"Hey! What’s up?” He asked. “Why are you crying Ames?” He asked her listening to her sobs through the phone a look of concern crossing his face. “I’m going to come over okay. I’ll be right there.”

Jake made his way back to the table. “I am so sorry, there’s an emergency at work. I have to go.”

“Oh.” She said her face slightly falling. “Okay. That’s okay, I understand. Duty calls.”

He smiled at her. “I can drive you home if you want.”

“Yeah I would like that.” 

\-----

“What’s wrong?” Jake asked as soon as Amy opened the front door. There were still tears in her eyes as she pointed towards her open laptop sitting on the couch. Jake walked into her apartment and sat down on the couch taking the laptop. “I don’t understand.” He said looking at her page. 

He was surprised to see that she was married to Teddy Wells. Surprise might be the wrong word. It didn’t surprise him, they were like the exact same person, what surprised him was that she didn’t tell him. He was happy for her, he really wanted to be, but in the back of his mind he knew this feeling in his chest was jealousy. His mother always said it was the worst shade of color on a person and she was right. He still couldn’t help feeling it though.

Amy sat down next to him on the couch taking a deep breath and trying to gain composure. “Rosa died.” She said after a minute. Jake looked at her his mind not even processing what she had said. “Rosa was shot in the line of duty.” She repeated taking the computer from Jake.She pulled up the official NYPD facebook page and handed it to him. “You can’t read the whole article, since it technically isn't out yet.”

He read the little blurb that was posted on Facebook. “NYPD officer, Rosa Diaz was fatally shot in line of duty on December 23, 2013. She died heroically trying to protect her captain Raymond Holt. Today she is remember by her family and friends at the ninety ninth precinct.”

“I don’t understand.” Jake said. “How could she just be here one minute and gone the next.” Amy shook her head several times not able to find words. “I know people die in the line of duty, danger comes with the job, but I never think about one of us dying.”

“Me neither.” Amy said her hands shaking as she took the computer back from him. “Do you think that there’s anything that we can do?” 

“I don't know.” Jake said running a hand through his hair. His mind was running a million miles and hour. He couldn’t lose Rosa, not after everything they’ve been through at the nine nine and the academy. He would honestly consider her a sister. “I mean she was here yesterday and today she’ not.”

“So?”

“Little things that we’ve done have changed big things in the future. Think about it.” Jake said. “So maybe she or someone else did something tiny yesterday that caused this massive earthquake in the future.” 

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Maybe if we give it time the next time we refresh she will be alive again. Anything that she or someone else does now or even in the future can affect what we’re seeing here.”

“How are you so right now?” Amy asked. “Our friend is dead and you’re so calm.”

“Rosa isn’t dead yet.” Jake reminded her. “According to this she’s still going to be alive for eleven years. So much can change before then. So much Ames.”

Amy looked over at him her tears finally dried. “So you don’t actually think that she’ll end up dying in 2013?”

“No.”

“I hate how you can make everything better.”

“I know.” 

“Oh!” She exclaimed. “Oh my gosh! You had your date with Jenny. Please tell me you didn’t cancel to come over here.” Jake was silent and Amy’s mouth fell open. “Jake you didn’t have to. This could’ve waited.”

“You called me sobbing your eyes out barley even able to form a sentence and you’re telling me this could wait?” Jake asked laughing a little bit. “Ames it’s fine. I’ve got the rest of my life with Jenny remember.”

Amy looked down at the ground. Of course she remembered that. It’s what she’s been trying to not think of for a while now. “Did I tell you that I’m married to Teddy?” Amy asked him. Now it was Jake’s turn to look at the ground refusing to make eye contact.

“You didn’t. But I saw it on your page.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. I was just a little freaked out.”

“Why?” Jake asked. “He seems like a nice guy.”

“Things changed a little too fast and the version of my future before Teddy I really didn’t like.”

“What was wrong with it?” Jake asked. Amy pursed her lips trying to decide if she should answer or not. 

“We dated.” She said after a second deciding to just screw it. Jake probably wasn’t going to care. He had Jenny after all.

“We...dated?” He asked his voice coming out far more horse than he thought it would or that she expected. 

“Yeah. You were still married to Jenny. I think that you had broken up with me.”

“Oh.” Jake said. Now his mind was really moving a million miles and hour. In what world was he dating Amy Santiago and decided to break up with her, Jenny or no Jenny. “That upset you?” He asked before he could stop himself. He held his breath and prayed that she wasn’t about to shatter his heart.

“It upset me how hung up on you I was.” Amy said after a second. Jake nodded looking down for a second. He wished that he had been able to read some of those posts before she changed the future entirely. “Some of those posts were so cringey. I’ve never been that in love with a guy before.” The room fell silent at the word love. Jake ran his tongue over his teeth not sure what to say. 

“You should refresh the page.” Jake said finally clearing his throat. He wanted so badly to move on from this conversation. “Maybe Rosa is alive again.” he added.

“Oh. Yeah.” Amy said before refreshing the page. She went to search Rosa’s page and much to her surprise Rosa’s name popped up. “She’s alive!” Amy exclaimed looking over at Jake with beaming eyes. Jake on the other felt like he was suffocating. 

**December 23, 2013**

****

Rosa Diaz

****

**I don’t ever post on here and I don’t ever plan to again but I just wanted to let everyone know that Charles Boyle is the most dedicated police officer I know. If it wasn’t for him I would be dead today. Charles literally took a bullet for me today.**

“Check Charles account.” Jake said now fearing for Boyle’s mortality. He waited as Amy typed Charles’s name into the box.

“He’s still alive.” She said and both detectives sighed a breath of relief. "And he's not longer married to Gina! He's married to a girl named Genevieve.

“Oh thank God.” Jake said trying to hold back a yawn. “I’m going go. It’s getting pretty late.”

“Oh.” Amy said and Jake could almost hear a bit off disappointment in her voice. “Yeah that’s a good call. With work early in the morning.” She added and just like that, any hint of disappointment was gone. 

“Yeah.” Jake said making his way to her front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Amy sat on her couch staring at her closed door where he just was. How could she be so stupid. It didn’t upset her how hung up on Jake she was. She was feeling that way in her current stage of life. What upset her was that for some reason she wasn’t enough for him. For some reason he left her and married Jenny. She’s never been this in love with a guy before. 

She pulled up her timeline and saw that Jake had posted recently.

**January 12, 2018**

**Jake Peralta**

**What was it that Holt said at Dozer Man's funeral? Everything is garbage? That sounds about right right now.**

**_Terry Jeffords_ **

**_Lighten up Peralta. Everything happens for a reason._ **

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_Yeah if that reason is me dying alone._ **

Amy clicked on his account a feeling of hope finding its home somewhere deep in her chest. It was wrong to wish that on her friend, especially now that she was with Teddy, but she couldn’t help it. Sure enough, Jake was no longer married to Jenny. He wasn’t married to anyone anymore. It was wrong that that made her smile. He would be okay. Just like he said earlier, the future changes cause of tiny little things. Tomorrow he would probably be married to Taylor Swift or something. That would make him happy

**March 19, 2018**

**Teddy Wells With Amy Wells**

**Welcome to the world Lucas Wells.**

**_Gina Linetti_ **

**_Cute! Now little Iggy can have someone to play with!_ **

**__Terry Jeffords_ _ **

**__Ava wants to be invited to those playdates as well_ _ **

**___Jake Peralta_ _ _ **

**___Congratulations. _____**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The formatting on this chapter got a little messed up but hopefully it isn't too confusing


	8. Chapter 8

“I have an announcement to make.” Holt announced to the entire bullpen early Monday morning. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to look towards the commanding officer. “I am gay.” He said once he had everyone’s attention.

Amy could feel Jake looking over at her, but she refused to look back. She instead glanced over at Rosa who had an unreadable facial expression. The room was silent until Terry spoke first. “I think that’s really cool that you got to where you are despite being a black gay cop.”

“You’re incorrect. Nobody knows that I am gay. I came out to the police commissioner and he blackmailed me into staying the closet. Said that with budget cuts the nine nine would be the first to go. But I don’t care what he thinks anymore. The nine nine is great. Everything single one you works hard and gets the job done. If they shut down this precinct because the commanding officer is gay then shame on them.” Everyone in the room nodded agreeing with his statement. “That is all. You may get back to work.” he added before retreating into his office.

Amy watched Jake get up and heads toward Captain Holt’s office knocking once on the door. He walked into the office and closed the blinds before. She wanted so badly to know what he was saying in there.

“What do you want Peralta?” Captain Holt asked Jake sat down across from him.

“Nothing in particular.” Jake said resting his elbows on the desk. “This probably won’t mean anything to you because it’s coming from me. I’m sure if it came from Santiago or someone more intelligent that it would, but I wanted to let you know I thought that was really cool that you came out despite the pressure from the officers above.”

“You do?” Holt asked. “That is. Well surprising.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that to me?” Jake asked. “I can be progressive sometimes.”

“It’s surprising because you make sexual jokes about everything.”

“I do not!” Jake said defending himself. “We’re getting off point here.” Jake said “What I was trying to say-” He started when he noticed the picture on Holt’s desk. It was of a man around the same age. The man wasn’t smiling though. “Who is that?” Jake asked pointing at the picture before he could stop himself. The truth is-he knew who that man was. It was Kevin, Holt’s (future) husband. They could be married right now for all he knows.

“That’s a personal question Peralta.” Holt said and Jake grimaced knowing that he shouldn’t have asked that. Jake watched Holt look at the picture his face softening for a second. “But if you must know that is my husband, Kevin. I can finally display a picture of him on my desk now.” Jake watched a slight smile creep it’s way onto Holt’s face before it was gone and back to robo captain. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Uh no. Thanks.” Jake said getting up out of his chair and heading back into the bullpen. He smiled slightly at the way Amy tried to turn around in her chair and make it look like she wasn’t watching.

“So what were you talking about in there...dude.” She said trying to sound chill. Jake cracked the slightest smile before turning on his monitor. 

“None of your business Santiago. That’s personal.”

“Did you finally come out as bi?” Amy asked her eyebrow quirking upwards and a playful smile on her face.

“Not that it matters but no I did not come out as bi because I am not bi.”

“Uh huh.” 

“Can I come over to your house tonight? I want to look at facebook.”

“You want to see what changed since you just came out as bi?”

“No.” Jake said. “I um…” he trailed off for a second. “I just got somethings that I want to look into.”

“You can come over, but I won’t be there. I’m going on a date tonight.” Amy said.

“With Teddy?” Jake asked feeling his heartbeat faster and faster. It shouldn’t matter. He had Jenny. He went out with Jenny a couple of nights ago and had a great night. His future with Jenny looked beyond perfect. So why should it matter if Amy goes out on a date with Teddy.

“Yeah. He asked me and I wasn’t going to say no to my...future husband.” She whispered.

“Of course.” Jake said. “So I can come over though.”

“Yeah that’s fine.”

\-----

Jake knocked on Amy’s door several times before she opened it. Much to his surprise she was only wearing a towel and her hair was wrapped up in another one. Jake let his eyes wander down for a second before snapping back up to her face. He tried so hard to keep his eyes there. “Sorry.” She said as if this was just an ordinary inconvenience. “I just got out of the shower. Running a little late.”

“That’s not like you.” Jake said as he walked into her apartment.

“I know.” Amy said. “So the laptops there.” She said pointing to the couch. “You can just make yourself at home or whatever. When you leave just make sure to lock the door back.” Jake nodded as he sat down on the couch grabbing the laptop.

Amy turned her back towards him and started walking back towards what he assumed was her bedroom. He tried not the watch her, but he couldn’t help the way his eyes flickered up and down her small frame as he headed away from him. There were more freckles on her back then he would’ve thought, he found himself wanting to count everyone of them. Maybe he would keep count of each ones he’s counted with a kiss on each one. He shook his head violently trying to clear the not safe for work thoughts about his co-worker.

He grabbed her computer opening it up and getting on Facebook. Her feed showed all the gross things she had posted of her and Teddy. They even had a baby now. The thing is, Jake didn’t want a kid, not right now at least, but the idea of Amy having kids with someone else made him a little jealous. 

There were three comments on the post. He clicked the button and read through Gina, Terry and his comment. He was just about to click on his name when Amy walked out into the living room. “How do I look?” She asked doing a slight spin.

If Jake thought Amy was hard to keep his eyes off in a towel, he didn’t even know how to describe what this was. She was wearing a red dress that was form fitting. Showed off a little cleavage so you knew that she had it but not enough to seem inviting. Her hair was neatly curled and falling down her back and Jake even thought that she might’ve been wearing a little bit of makeup. 

“You look...stunning.” He said cringing slightly at the fact that he said that outloud. It was so unlike Jake to be so blunt. What happened to his usual ‘you look like garbage’ joke. Why did he have to tell her how beautiful she looked. His heart ached as he realized that she dressed up like this for someone else. He wished so badly that she would get this dressed up to impress him. Not that she had to. She could wear sweatpants and a stained dirty shirt and still impress him.

Amy blushed looking at the ground. ”Thank you Jake.” She said and it was a rare moment of sincerity between the two of them. No jokes, no teasing, just Jake being Jake and Amy being Amy. “Are you going to be okay here?” She asked and Jake nodded. “Alright we’ll have a good night then.” She said making her way towards the door.

“You too.” Jake said back watching her walk out of her apartment leaving him alone in her living room. A couple of years ago, he would've taken this opportunity to go through her things and find embarrassing secrets. But things have changed and now he wanted to sit in front of this computer until he found exactly what he was looking for. He was just glad that he was alone, he wouldn't be able to do this with her sitting next to him.

\-----

“You look gorgeous.” Teddy said as soon as he saw her walk into the crowded restaurant. 

“Thank you.” Amy said. It felt nice to be complimented, but there was something about the way he said that didn’t sit right with her. It’s not that she thought he didn’t mean, she could tell her did. It was something else and she couldn’t put her finger on it. “You look nice as well.” Teddy smiled at her as the two were led to their table.

\-----

The first thing Jake noticed was that he wasn’t married to Jenny anymore. Now he was single and apparently pretty cynical.

**September 7, 2018**

**Jake Peralta**

**I miss her and I bet she doesn't even think about me.**

Of course Jenny didn’t think about him. She was too good for him anyways, it was only a matter of time. Sure it hurt that he was alone, but like he told Amy things change so fast. This isn’t permanent, just a little bump in the road. Was it wrong that he hoped her future life with Teddy was the same?

\-----

“I was really impressed with the work you did on that case. It was an amazing solve.” Amy said as she started to eat the food that had just been set down in front of her. Teddy was easy, she liked that. She didn’t have to rack her brain trying to come up with something to talk about, everything just came natural. She imagined that’s why she married him.

“Oh thanks. I was actually impressed with you though. I’ve never seen someone so dedicated to the job.”

Amy smiled at him. “Thank you. I hope to be captain someday so you kinda gotta be focused.”

Teddy laughed as he ate his pasta. “That’s true. I actually want to make captain at some point too. I think it would be really cool to run my own precinct.”

“Right!” Amy exclaimed. Finally someone that got it. Jake had never understood why she wanted to be captain. He respected that she had goals, but didn’t understand why that was her goal. He said that being captain seemed like too much stress and not nearly as fun as being a detective.

\-----

The next thing he noticed that had changed was Rosa coming out as bi again. He smiled to himself hoping that his friend was happy with this Pimento person. Jake was even surprised to see that Captain Holt was back on facebook and once again married to Kevin, although there were no posts. 

This still wasn’t what he was here for. He was stalling and he knew it. He wanted to know. Scratch that, he had to know. He was just so terrified that he was going to find something he didn’t like. He wasn’t going to like anything to be honest but what if he was dead or something, how was he supposed to feel about that? He hovered his fingers over the keyboard swearing to himself that he was going to do it this time.

\-----

“Should we get the check.” Teddy asked after finally catching his breath from laughing too hard. 

Amy smiled warmly at him. “Yeah.” She said reaching for her wallet before he stopped her. 

“Dinner’s on me.”

“Oh no you don’t have to.” She said protesting. She hated other people paying for her food, she always felt strange about it for some reason.

“No I want to.” He said with a smile, so Amy gave up and just smiled back. “I had a great night.” He said once they were outside on the busy streets.

“Me too.” Amy agreed as the two walked down the street. “I kinda don’t want it to end.” She wasn’t normally the type to extend a date. May give the guy the wrong impression. But for some reason she wanted to spend more time with Teddy. She knew that she had forever with him but right now forever didn’t quite seem long enough.

\------

There weren’t very many Roger Peralta’s on Facebook so it was easy for Jake to find his account.

\-----

“I know a bar just right around the corner.” Teddy said. “We could go there if you’d like.”

“I’d love that.” She said as she followed him down a dark alley towards the bar. Inside it was crowded and there was hardly any where to sit. But eventually her and Teddy found a table drinks already in hand.

“What was that like growing up with seven brother?” He asked her. “I had two sisters and thought that I was going to die half of the time.”

Amy laughed as she took a drink of her beer. “It was.” She paused trying to come up with the right words to describe her childhood. “Strange sometimes. The age difference made it hard. I had nieces and nephews when I was in the fourth grade.”

“That’s so weird!” Teddy said. “Neither of my sisters even have kids now!”

“Yeah it was weird to graduate and have a nephew in second grade. I actually have a brother that’s younger than him.”

“Oh my gosh!” Teddy exclaimed. “Could you imagine being older than your uncle. That’s so bizzare.”

“Yeah.” Amy agreed. “It was hard being with all boys though. They can be kind of gross and as they get older they stink. So bad.” Teddy laughed taking another drink of his beer.

\-----

Jake didn’t know what he was expecting, but this certainly wasn’t it. Roger Peralta had a family. A new family. Married to Gabby Bizzel since 2008. They had two children. Jake wanted to get sick.

Luckily Roger, Dad’s, account was public so he was able to see every post that he had made. They had a daughter who looked to be six or seven and a son that was probably ten at the least. And he posted about them constantly.

**July 4, 2018**

**Roger Peralta**

**Marissa and Matt had so much fun lighting fireworks (I did it although Marissa will argue with you on that one)**

**June 16, 2018**

**Roger Peralta**

**So proud of Matt today. Scored a homerun that won that game. That’s my son!**

There was a picture attached of a smiling kid next to his father. They each were holding ice cream cones in one hand. Jake felt the walls closing in around him. What was it about this kid that made it worthwhile to stay? And why wasn’t Jake enough?

\----

Amy shifted through her purse trying to find her keys. She had three drinks, one more and Teddy might have been coming home with her tonight. But she didn’t want to jeopardize their future. What if she wasn’t supposed to sleep with him during the first date and then everything was messed up.

Finally she found her keys and unlocked the door letting herself into her apartment. She turned on the light and nearly screamed when she saw Jake sitting on her couch staring straight ahead the laptop resting in front of him but turned off. “Jake?” She asked. He turned towards her and even in the dim light she could tell that his eyes were stained red and his checks were colored a splotchy red. “Jake what’s wrong.” He didn’t say anything just continued to stare at her.

Finally he opened her mouth. “What’s wrong with me?” he asked his voice cracking. She walked over at sat down next to him on the couch. 

“What do you mean?” She asks him putting her arm comfortingly on his. 

“Why am I not enough?” He asked his voice still breaking. Amy was afraid. She was honestly afraid. She had never seen Jake so vulnerable and open like this. “Why does everyone leave me?” He adds.

“Jake I don’t understand.” He leans forward and her arm falls off of him. She watches as he grabs the computer turning it on. He searches something before handing it over to him. Her breath hitched reading whose page this was. Roger Peralta. “Jake, he was a dick, it’s not your fault that he left.”

“Yeah, but why did he stay for Matt?” Amy looked at him for a second feeling all sorts of new confusion before she started scrolling through the account and realizing exactly who Matt was, Jake’s younger brother. Amy was silent as she scrolled through the account. Roger was father of the year for these two children. “You know my mom taught me how to shave?” Jake asked breaking her away from the screen. “Yeah.” He said with a bitter laugh. “I hadn’t seen him in seven years when I needed to start shaving. But Matt…” Jake said before trailing off. 

Amy took a deep breath trying to come up with anything to say. “Your dad missed out.” She said after a second. “Him not being a part of your life was his loss not yours.”

“Feels like it was kind of my loss. He gets to be a dad to those kids, but I don’t get to have a dad.”

Amy reached over and took his hands in hers. She gave a small affectionate squeeze looking into his eyes. He looked like he was on the verge of crying again and she really hoped that he didn't because she would probably cry too. “Listen to me.” She said calmly. “I’m telling you that your dad missed out because you are an amazing person. You’re sweet, compassionate, kind, funny even though I hate to admit it.” He smiled slightly at that, but it was gone in a blink. “Him leaving you and not knowing you is on him. Not you. You didn’t do anything wrong. People leaving doesn't mean that you did anything wrong. It means that they made a choice. There’s something wrong with them. You are enough. You’re more than enough. To you mom. To the nine nine. To me.”

She looked at him and the look in his eyes was something new. Something that she had never seen before. It scared her slightly how much hotter the room got, how hyperaware she was of his hand in hers, the way her belly did somersaults. “Thanks.” Jake said after a moment the look disappearing. “I should go, it’s getting late.”

“Oh. Yeah of course.” She said frowning to herself when he dropped her hand. She got off the couch and walked him to her door.

“I forgot to ask.” He said in his usual chipper voice but Amy could tell that his father was still bothering him. How could it not? “How was your date with Teddy?”

“It was good. Thanks. I really like him.” Jake smiled at her and for a second she thought she she saw the slightest bit of regret written in his face, but she brushed it off almost as fast as he did.

“That’s cool.” Jake said. “I’ll uh see you tomorrow.” he finished before slipping out her apartment and down the hallway. Amy pulled back up her laptop, the picture of Matt and Roger still pulled up. She quickly closed out of the tab and pulled back up her account hoping that nothing between her and Teddy changed because of the date, but as she read the words across her screen her heart dropped.

**Amy Wells changed her relationship status with Teddy Wells to it’s complicated.**


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a rough week for Jake. Before Facebook he had pretty much accepted the fact that he was going to be alone. If he was being honest, he was kind of hoping to die in the line of duty as a hero. It’s not that he wanted to die, but everyone has to go eventually why not go cool. 

But after Facebook everything in his mind shifted. Now he saw this life that he should’ve or could’ve had. He could’ve married Sophia and had cute kids. He could’ve stayed with Jenny and been happily married to one of the prettiest girls he knows. But none of it seemed right to him so he lost it all. Losing Sophia and Jenny hurt, but it was nothing compared to seeing his father's life. Jake should’ve had a childhood like Matt. 

So when the captain called Jake into his office with a stern face, Jake could only assume the worst. He probably mislabeled evidence in a case or something. Still he walked into the office closing the door behind him and taking a seat. There were two other men in the office that jake didn’t recognize. 

“Peralta this is special agent Marx and special agent Cook with the F.B.I. they are looking for a detective to go undercover and infiltrate the Esposito drug cartel. I’ve recommended you for the job.” Jake’s mouth fell open staring at the captain in disbelief. 

“This is a very dangerous assignment.” Special agent Marx said. “You would be dealing with some very high profile and dangerous drug dealers.”

The other agent, Cook, nodded. “We would put you in Washington D.C. give you an apartment and a burner phone, but it would be up to you to get involved in the cartel”

“I'm in.” Jake said. 

“Peralta.” Holt said. “This is a very serious assignment, you should think before you just dive right in.”

Jake turned around in his chair glancing out at the bullpen at all of his co-workers. Rosa was about to smash the printer, Terry was eating yogurt, Charles was making some disgusting food in the microwave. Lastly Jake’s eyes locked on Amy’s. She tilted her head to the side as a way of asking what’s wrong, but he just turned around. “I said I’m in. There’s nothing to think about.”

“Great!” Agent Cook said. “We will give you a fake identity, but to be sure they can’t trace it back, Jake Peralta needs to die. Tomorrow we will go through all the paperwork to legally consider you dead. No one can know that you are alive except for immediate family. Such as mother, father or siblings. Jake leaned back in his seat. Just his mother. “This includes all of your co-workers they will all think that you died in line of duty.”

Jake glanced back out the window into the bullpen. Amy was still staring into the office. Jake imagined that she was trying to read lips, although she wasn’t very good at it. “Take the day off Peralta, gather your things.” Holt said.

“Yes.” Marx agreed. “We will fly you out to D.C. as soon as you considered dead in New York.”

Jake nodded and walked out of the office. He grabbed his bag of his desk and started making his way towards the elevator. “What was all of that about?” Amy asked him before he could get on the elevator.

“Don’t worry about it.” Jake said to her as the doors opened. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said. He wasn’t sure if it was true or not. He wanted so badly to brag about this to all of his co-workers and honestly anyone who would listen, but he knew he needed to keep his mouth shut.

Amy watched Jake get on the elevator and the doors closed. She wanted to know what happened in that office so bad. Not because she was nosy. Well maybe she was just a litte. But she mainly wanted to know because of the look he gave her from the other side of the glass. He looked so helpless and maybe even afraid. It was similar to the one he gave her about a week ago at her apartment. Only this time it was more guarded. 

They hadn’t talked about that night. They haven't really talked about anything. She got the distinct feeling that he was avoiding her. She kept trying to tell herself that he was probably working through a lot. That she would feel the same if her father had abandon her and started a new life. All she wanted to do was talk to him. 

She had been on two more dates with Teddy in the past week. It seemed like a lot, and to be honest it was, especially for Amy. Still she found herself more and more drawn to him. She had a scare last week with her changing her relationship status, but just like Jake said, it didn’t last long. One date later and they were happily married again, now they were expecting another baby. But still every time she went out with Teddy she was thinking about Jake in the back of her mind. Something she saw that she was sure he would like. Some inside joke that Teddy wouldn't quite understand. Some drama that happened at the nine nine. She always tried to push those thoughts away. Teddy was safe, he was comfortable. She didn’t even know what Jake was. 

It was much later in her shift when Amy’s phone buzzed with a text. It was a group chat with all of coworkers. Jake asked them all if they wanted to go to Shaws after their shift. Amy replied that she would love to before watching all of her co-workers say the same thing.

It was less than an hour before they were all at Shaws. Amy was holding a beer when Teddy walked in the door. “Teddy!” She exclaimed when she saw him. She threw her arm around him. “I didn’t think you were going to be able to make it.” 

Teddy smiled at her. “I wouldn’t miss it. I love all of your co-workers they’re so nice and funny.” Amy laughed as she brought him over to where the rest of the nine nine was siting. She slid into the booth across from Jake and Teddy sat down next to her. Jake took a big drink of his beer before saying hello to Teddy.

She tried not to watch Jake out of the corner of her as Teddy talked about some case that he had been working today. Every Time Jake thought that Amy wasn’t looking, he was sneaking glances at her. She could be mad, but the thing is she was doing the same thing. 

He looked sad, as if he was going to cry at any minute. Seeing him cry last week was more than enough for her to know she didn’t ever want to see that again. She was used to seeing people cry. It was a pretty common thing at work. But for someone as easy going and loud as Jake, it was unnerving to have him silently crying next to her. 

She tried to listen to what Teddy was saying, tried to ignore Jake’s subtle glances, tried to ignore the alarms ringing in her ears. She didn’t know how but she knew that something bad was going to happen.

\-----

Amy was sitting on her couch watching earlier's episode of Jeopardy when there was a knock on the door. She checked her watch, it was almost midnight. Hesitantly she got off the couch and glanced through the peephole to see Jake nervously rocking back and forth on his feet.

She opened the door and stared at him for a second. “Facebook?” She asked when he didn’t say anything. That was really the only reason that he had to come over here. Especially this late at night. 

Jake shook his head before clearing his throat. “Can I come in.” Amy moved out of the doorway and let him into the apartment. He didn’t sit down, instead he stayed where he was just looking at her. She could that his brain was working overtime trying to come up with something. 

“Jake. What is it?” 

He took a deep breath looking at the ground before looking back up to meet her eyes. “Promise me you won’t hate me? I don't want you to think that I’m being a dick.”

“What’s wrong?” Amy asked getting more and more worried by the second. That feeling in her chest from the bar was back. It was sitting on top of her lungs making it hard to breathe. 

“I like you.” He said quickly before he could have a chance to overthink and not say what he needed to say. “Like like you. Romantic stylez. I know that you’re with Teddy and thats...that’s great.” He said and she could tell that he was lying.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

He took another deep breathe. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but I’m going undercover with the feds.” He said and it felt really good to finally get that out. He still couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face. “This time tomorrow Jake Peralta will be dead and I will be Evan Young. But I need you to know how much you mean to Jake before he’s gone. I’m not asking you to do anything, I just need you to know. If something goes down I would be really pissed at myself if you didn’t at least know."

Amy stared at him finally realizing what was happening. She then ran over to the couch where her computer was laying. She turned it on quickly logging into Facebook. This had the potential to change everything.

“What are you doing?” Jake asked staring at her in awe. 

“I’m seeing how things are going to change.” She said as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. She had her account pulled up and was about to go through it when Jake snatched the computer out of her hands. He closed the lid and put it down on the table. 

“Can you seriously not be in the moment with me for just two minutes?” He asked her. He hadn’t expected her to say that she liked him back so he wasn’t hurt about that. Not really at least. It stung of course, but at least he was leaving for at least six months. What hurt was the fact that she cared more about how this was affecting her future with Teddy then being here with him right now. “I’m leaving tomorrow and I won’t be back for six months.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” She said. “I don’t feel that way.” She lied. She knew that somewhere deep down, hell it wasn’t that even that deep, she did feel something for him. But she wasn’t ready to face that yet. Teddy was safe.

“I’m not asking you to.” Jake said to her feeling more defensive than he had earlier. “I just wanted you to hear me say it. Also I wanted to spend time with you, cause I’m going to miss you and we haven’t talked in an entire week.”

“That’s not my fault.” Amy whispered.

“I’m not saying it is.” Jake replied. “I had to work through some shit, it’s been a rough week, but now I’m ready to spend time with you and all you want to do is check Facebook.”

“Cause this could mess up my whole future!” Amy screamed at him. “Everything I had with Teddy is in jeopardy now!” 

“No it’s not. It’s only in jeopardy if you want it to be. If this means nothing to you then everything will be the same. I’m leaving, I don't’ want my last memory of you for the next six months to be screaming.” Jake said making his way back to the door.

“Wait!” Amy said walking towards him. She wrapped her arms around him and embraced him into a tight hug for the last time in six months. “I’m sorry.” She said. 

It took Jake a second but then he held onto her tight pulling her closer to him. She buried her head into his chest and he rested his on top of hers. They stayed like that for a second, each of them embracing each other’s warmth, before Amy let go of him and moved back. She wiped a tear from her eye. “Promise you’ll be safe?”

“I’ll try my hardest.” Jake said. “I’ll see you around.” He said unsure of what else to say.

“Yeah.” She said sighing as she watched him walk out of her apartment. Her eyes followed him down the hall until he rounded the corner and was gone from her for six months. 

She sat down on the floor by the door and reached for her computer. She logged it in and found herself holding her breath as it pulled up her page. Amy Santiago. Police Captain at the NYPD. She smiled to herself, that’s not where she was working before. She scrolled down the page until she felt her heart stop.

**March 8, 2022**

**Amy Peralta (Santiago) With Jake Peralta**

**Here we go again.**

**_Charles Boyle_ **

**_This made my day. I can’t believe that you’re going to bless us with baby Jake number two._ **

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_Charles, please take a chill pill_ **

**_Gina Linetti_ **

**_So happy for you guys_ **

The post was accompanied with a picture of Amy, Jake and a small kid, maybe three of four. Jake and Amy were positively beaming. Even the kid standing next to Amy had a huge smile on his face. It reminded Amy quite a lot of Jake form that matter. Which made sense given that it probably was Jake’s kid. 

She continued scrolling down the page. It was littered with all sorts of cute family things and the occasional post about her precinct, the 5-8. 

**October 31, 2020**

**Jake Peralta with Amy Peralta (Santiago)**

**Still bummed that we had to miss the Halloween heist, but taking this little guy trick or treating was definitely more fun. I’ll miss being called an amazing detective/genius, but nothing compares to the feeling of watching the way Greyson’s eyes light up with all this candy.**

**_Michael Hitchcock_ **

**_Despite what anyone says, I won_ **

**_Jake Peralta_ **

**_For some reason I highly doubt it_ **

**_Rosa Diaz_ **

**_He did not win. I did mwahaha. Watch your back for next week. Having kids has made you weak. But also he’s the cutest._ **

**_Charles Boyle_ **

**_That is my favorite movie. It makes me feel things_ **

**_Amy Peralta (Santiago)_ **

**_I guess you could say you’re the best father/candy carrier. He’s so lucky to have you._ **

Amy looked at the tiny kid that was sitting on Jake’s shoulders in the picture. Jake was wearing a white chef's coat while their son was wearing a little mouse onesies. She wasn’t sure what movie it was from or what they were supposed to be, but it was cute nonetheless. She started at the son, Grayson, for a second. He did look a remarkable lot like Jake. His hair was curly and he had a crooked grin as if he had just gotten away with something. Yet she could see her eyes in his. She imagined that he was just as smart as the two of them combined. 

Amy clicked on Jake’s profile wanting to see what he posted. When the page loaded the screen told her that the action wasn’t possible as Jake and her weren’t friends. Her heart started beating faster as she refreshed. Nothing changed. Facebook was going to show her what she wanted to see and right now she wanted that life with Jake. So why weren’t they friends. She refreshed again. Nothing.

She clicked the little back arrow to go back to her account. There was nothing on it. No profile picture of anything. All is said was that her name was Amy Santiago. What happened? She ran her hands through her hair and prayed that it would come back. Refresh. Nothing. Refresh. Nothing.Refresh. Nothing.Refresh. Nothing. She slammed the computer shut and slid it away from her. Then she finally allowed herself to cry.


	10. Chapter 10

**Month One**

They told them that Jake was dead two days later. Amy watched her co-workers shocked faces. Rosa stared straight ahead at nothing in particular. Terry stared at the captain wondering how this could be happening. Gina was going through her phone looking at all the pictures of the two of them, reminiscing in whatever moment was captured. Charles had his head down on the table and was audibly wailing. Meanwhile Amy had her arms crossed over her chest staring straight ahead. The only thought on her mind that kid with the curly hair and kind brown eyes

“What happened?” Terry asked once he gathered himself up enough to compose basic sentences.

“Well as you know, Peralta was out working on the Weber case. The arsonist who set over ten buildings on fire. He was in the building when it went up in flames. Weber has been arrested but Peralta unfortunately did not make it out of the flames.”

“Can we see him?” Charles asked and Amy almost snorted. Of course you couldn’t see him. He was burned alive in the building. Oh also there’s the fact that he’s not really dead. Instead Amy kept her eyes trained on the ground trying to play the grieving coworker. 

“No.” Holt said after a second. “He’s not recognizable anymore. We were only able to identify him by dental records. I wouldn’t want your image of him to be altered by how he looks now.” The room was silent other than Charles’s weeping. Amy even though that she saw a tear fall down Rosa’s check. “I understand that this is hard, but crime does not take a break because we lost one of our own. I ask that you give today your best, even if it’s not as good as usual. Dismissed.” The room shuffled out but Amy stayed in her seat. 

“Santiago?” Terry asked when he noticed that she didn’t get up. He reached out and put a hand on top of hers. “I know how important he was to you. He was important to all of us.”

“I just can’t believe he’s gone.” She said because she knew that’s what he wanted to hear. She was fuming at him right now though. It wasn’t fair of him to just dump that all on her and leave for six months. It wasn’t fair that she was the only one of her co-workers who knew that he was alive and very much in danger. It wasn’t fair that she lost him. Again.

\-----

A week later and Amy was standing at the wake giving a eulogy. Something that she never thought that she would have to do. For a guy that was still alive. But here she stood, in front of what seemed like hundreds of other police officers. “Jake Peralta was my best friend.” she said reading off her drafted speech. 

“He was kind, compassionate, funny, immature sure but he was one of the best detectives that I’ve ever known. He had a knack for always figuring out a case when it looked helpless.” She smiled sadly at the paper before folding it up and speaking from her heart. Something that Amy Santiago very _very_ raley did. “I used to complain about his toys spilling over onto my desk or the ants that were eating his crumbs coming over to mine. I never thought that I would cry over a clean desk across from mine. But when they packed up all of his stuff I had to go to the restroom and cry for twenty minutes before I could go back to my desk.” She watched her co-workers give her looks of sympathy.

“We actually had an argument right before he left. Died.” Amy continued her paper still neatly folded on the stand. “It was stupid looking back. I was being stubborn and refusing to admit what I already knew. There are so many things that I would do if he was still here. I would tell him that I was sorry and that he was right, that I was just being stupid. I would hold him a little tighter and little longer. Before I lost everything.”

Amy cleared her throat realizing that she was going way off topic and people probably had no idea what she was talking about anymore. “I guess the lesson is tell people how you really feel because you never know when you may never see them again. I love you Jake.” She finished putting her paper in her pocket before leaving the front of the church and heading straight out of the building tears in her eyes. 

\----

**Month Two**

Amy found herself at his apartment more often than she would like to admit. His mother must have known, that was the only logical explanation for why she didn’t sell it and take out his things. He had given her a spare key when they had first become friends. She had given him one too. They never used them until now. Until she was letting herself into his apartment almost every night.

She felt a little pathetic about it, but she missed him. She brought her laptop over this time. Sitting on his couch in one of his sweatshirts, God she would die if anyone saw her right now, she pulled up Facebook. At least once an hour a day she was refreshing her page praying that there weren’t any posts about it being the anniversary of the day he died. Refreshing the page was the only thing that made her feel sane.

They were never friends anymore, so she couldn’t see his account. Even her account was pretty empty. The only thing on there, the occasional posts from a friend wishing her happy birthday or sharing a picture that they thought was funny. She didn't care as long as it wasn’t about him being dead. 

She liked being at his apartment. Everything about it was so him. There was a Die Hard poster on every wall in the living room. When she turned on the tv, it was the first thing that came up. There were receipts littered all over his counter. Half the food in his fridge was expired. She figured that was why she liked it here, she somehow felt closer to him. 

He wasn't that far away from her. Only 200 some miles. It was ironic to her that all of her friends thought he was an entire dimension away while really he was just three hours away. It didn’t matter how far or close to her he was though, it’s not like she could go see him. So instead she found herself at his apartment, wrapped up in one of his sweatshirts reminiscing the smell of his cologne when he hugged her right before he left. 

A couple of nights when she stayed far later than she meant to, she thought about staying over. Burying herself in his comforter and burying her face into his pillow. His bed looked so warm, she knew that it would be even warmer if he were in it, but that was a rabbit hole she refused to go down. So each night she went home to her own bed and only slightly regretted it. 

Eventually she decided to go home. She grabbed her computer and made her way out of his apartment careful to lock the door behind her. She walked down the hall towards the elevator where there was an elderly women waiting for the elevator. 

“I’m so sorry for your loss.” The woman said looking Amy up and down.

“I’m sorry?” Amy asked. She hadn’t really been paying attention to anything as she was so caught up in her own thoughts. 

“I’m so sorry for your loss. It must be hard to lose a boyfriend that young.” 

“Oh. Thank you. We weren’t dating though.”

“Oh.” The woman said. “My apologies. I see you go to his apartment a lot and you’re wearing a man's sweatshirt I just assumed.” Amy looked down and sure enough she had forgotten to take off his sweatshirt. She tried to be mad at herself, but she really didn’t care. It smelt like him and it reminded her of home. Oh God. Home is where Jake Peralta is. That’s bad. “He was such a sweet man.” The woman continued snapping Amy back to reality.

“Yes, he was.” She agreed before shifting through her bag. “Oh crap. I totally left my keys on his counter, you’ll have to excuse me.” Amy said as the elevator door rang. The woman nodded as Amy headed away. She didn’t leave her keys and she wasn’t going back to his apartment. She just didn’t want to have a whole conversation with that women about how much she missed Jake Peralta.

\-----

**Month 3**

When Jake’s mother walked into the precinct the room fell silent. Amy hadn’t seen her since the funeral and she doubted that anyone else had. She made her way to Captain Holt’s office knocking once on the door before entering the office. It was one of those moments where she would’ve given anything to know what they were talking about.

It wasn’t long before Karen exited the office and walked through the bullpen. Amy tried to keep her head down and focus on her paperwork, but the women stopped in front of her desk. Amy glanced up expecting her to be looking at Jake’s desk but instead she looked right back at her. “Are you Amy Santiago?” She asked.

“Yes.” Amy said. 

“Can we go get coffee or something?” Every part of Amy’s brain screamed no but yet she found herself nodding and getting up out of her chair. They went to a coffee place right around the corner from the precinct. “Jake used to love this place. He swore it was the best coffee in all of Brooklyn.” She said once they had a table.

“I know.” Amy said. “Anytime he would bring coffee over for me it was always from here. It’s crazy that he likes it cause it’s ridiculously expensive.”

“I miss him.” Karen said and Amy smiled sadly.

“Yeah I do too.” She said. There was a pause before Amy asked. “Is there a reason that you asked me for coffee. I don’t mean to be rude or anything but-”

“I found these in his apartment.” Karen said handing Amy two notebooks. “I think that he would want you to have them.” Amy took them out of Karen’s hands and flipped the first page open. Jake’s messy handwriting was scribbled all over the inside of each page. She closed the cover immediate. 

“I don’t think that he would want me to have those.”

“I think he would. He uh” She cleared her throat once. “Writes a lot about you.” Amy’s heart begin to beat a little faster. She wanted them now. Of course she did. She would love to read what he wrote about her. But it feels wrong. He’s still alive and he’s going to be coming home. As of this morning he was. That’s when she refreshed Facebook last. 

“I don’t think he would and honestly I’m shocked that you even offered them to me.” Amy didn’t mean to sound rude, but now she wanted to know so badly but she wasn’t going to do that to him. “He’s coming home in three months.” She said praying that Karen knew that her son wasn’t really dead. “I don’t think he would want me to invade his privacy.”

Karen gave her a sad smile. “I know.” She said. “He gave these to me before he left and told me to give them to you. They're yours. You meant an awful lot to him. He’s never been good with emotions. This may be his way of showing what you meant to him.” She held the notebooks out again for Amy and this time Amy took them. 

“He told me that he liked me before he left.” Amy said. “We got in a fight about it because I couldn't acknowledge the simple way that I felt. Now I’m terrified that he may not make it back alive and he’s never going to know.” Karen reached out and took her hand. 

“He’s going to be okay. I promise.” It was amazing to Amy how calm she could be when her son was currently infiltrating the Esposito cartel. All Amy could do was smile and try to share some of that hope as she held Jake’s very private journals in her hand.

\----

She did go through them later that night at her own apartment. She was wearing his sweatshirt. It had become a common occurrence and she refused to wash it. Amy flipped through each page trying to make out his handwriting. It took a special kind of skill that very few people had to try and understand what he wrote. 

_I wish that I was brave enough to tell her the way I feel. Then at least I would know. Maybe she feels the same way. Probably not, but maybe. That’s why I can’t tell her, there’s always going to be a maybe if she doesn't know._

_She ‘cuddled’ with me at the movie today. I don’t think that she has any idea what she’s doing to me and I can’t decide if that makes it better or worse. I wonder if she knows that I read those books for her._

_I don’t care if I’m married to Jenny Gildenhorn. Sure she’s pretty but she’s not nearly as pretty as Amy. She’s not nearly as smart or funny or nice. I guess it shouldn’t matter as long as Amy’s happy, but I just kind of want to be the guy to make Amy happy._

_What does Teddy have that I don’t? I know that I’m immature and disorganized or whatever but I could learn. I could be better for her._

_I dreamt about her again last night. Nothing sexual. Just plain domestic shit. I can’t even have good sex dreams like a normal guy instead I have to dream about marriage and early morning pancakes. Does she ever dream about me?_

_I think that I love her._

Amy closed the cover of the journal and threw it down on the side of her couch. She couldn't do this. Even if Jake wanted her to see it, it seemed like an invasion of privacy. It was hard to believe that he would want her to read all of that. 

She made her way to her bedroom. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she pulled on a pair of shorts and climbed into her bed still wearing his sweatshirt. It wasn’t long before she was fast asleep underneath her grandmother’s warm quilt

She did dream of him that night.

\-----

**Month 4**

Amy logged on Facebook to do her usual refresh to make sure Jake is alive when she saw that she made a post. It was the first post on this account. There was still no profile picture or personal information entered. Just one long post. As she read the title she felt goosebumps form all over her body.

August 23, 2018

Amy Santiago

I never post on here anymore. I know that seems strange to a lot of you. But I have nothing to post. And I mean nothing. There’s no one in my life. I never do anything, and I feel like each day is just the same. This post will be up until midnight before it and my account will be gone. I need to let it all go. I can’t keep hoping that something is going to somehow magically change. This won’t make sense to most of you but I need to write it so here goes.

Dear Past Amy

There is so much that I wish I could tell you. So much that I would tell you to do differently. Don’t give up on your dream of captain for anything. Keep your head up high even when others drag you down. Don’t sacrifice yourself for someone who wouldn't do the same for you.

That being said it’s okay to have a little bit of fun. When they invite you to Shaws, go! Don’t sit at home studying police codes, there’s plenty of time for that, and you’ll regret it later. Have a beer, get drunk, sing Piano Man at the top of your lungs. Don’t care so much about being professional when you’re off the clock. Nobody, and I mean nobody is judging you.

There’s so much more to life than being a detective and trying to make captain. That’s what he tried to tell you over and over again but you never understood. I get it, it’s what you wanted ever since you were a little girl, but you have to see that there’s so much more than that. 

Don’t leave your family. Your biological family will come around eventually but the rest of them may never. And honestly who could blame them. The way you walked out on them was wrong. The way you left the rings on the kitchen counter and walked out on him crying on the kitchen floor never looking back. Sometimes I can’t sleep at night thinking about that. They were all worth so much more than you realized in the moment. 

Lastly, and I cannot stress this enough, don’t lose him. Don’t let him go. He was the only one. There’s no one else.

Amy checked her watch. 11:59. She was going to lose it all in one minutes. 60 seconds. Her grandfather’s clock chimed twelve times and when Amy refreshed the page, it was all gone. She tried entering in her email address and password but the account doesn't exist anymore. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes but the words ‘he was the only one. There’s no one else’ were burned on the inside of her eyelids.

Amy got up off the couch and scrambled around her apartment until she found the blank cds that she had. She never really used them other than burning her brothers singles that they requested. Amy placed a blank one into her computer before loading Itunes. 

**Month 5**

According to most of the detectives from the nine nine Jake Peralta rises from the dead.


	11. Chapter 11

Amy doesn't say anything to him his first day back. She tries to tell herself it because he’s just busy, but she knows that’s she’s staling. They need to have a real conversation. She needs to tell him how she really feels because ‘he’s the only one’.

When he’s gone for lunch with Boyle she places the cd on his desk and then goes back to her work. When Jake’s come back from lunch she heads to the evidence locker. 

She was there for only two minutes when she heard the door open. She turned around and saw Jake walking towards her. “Hi.” She said almost sheepishly.

“Hi?” He asked her sounding angry. “That’s all I get? I’ve been gone for four months, you’ve been avoiding me all day and the best I get is a ‘hi’?” She knew he deserved more but she wasn’t ready to do that yet. At least not here.

“I don’t know what else to say. We kind of left things weird.” She said turning her back on him to go through a box of evidence. 

“Yeah.” He agreed running his hands through his hair. “I feel kind of bad about that. Do you think that maybe we can get together and talk about it? I don’t want our friendship to be ruined or anything.”

Amy turned to look at him. “Me neither.” Amy said with a small but genuine smile. “We can talk later tonight, if you want to come by my place.”

“I can do that.” Jake said before turning and walking out of the evidence room. The second the door closed Amy took a deep breath and told herself over and over again that she could do this. She was Amy Santiago, she could tell a boy that she liked him.

\-----

Jake sat in the parking garage at work flipping the mysterious cd in his hands over and over again. It was in a case, but there was no label on it. Hesitantly, he took the cd out of its case and put it into the cd player. He could hear a slight crackle of his speakers before the song Iris started playing.

Jake leaned his head against the headrest shutting his eyes listening to the lyrics of the song over his speakers. “And I’d give up forever to touch you, Cause I know that you feel me somehow. You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be.” Jake smiled as he pulled out of the parking garage.

\-----

Amy’s phone vibrated on her kitchen counter. She grabbed it and saw a missed text from Jake. “I’m outside. Come downstairs. We’re going for a drive” She set her phone down and walked over to her window. Sure enough his mustang was parked right outside her apartment. 

The walk down didn’t take nearly as long as she had hoped. As she went outside there was a tiny part of her that wanted to go back inside and never have this conversation. She pushed those feelings down as she opened up the passenger door and climbed into his car. “Where are you taking me?” She asked. 

“Nowhere in particular.” He said as he merged into traffic unmuting the stereo. Amy’s breath caught in her throat when she realized what was playing.

“You found it?” She asked looking out the window. She hoped that he wouldn’t see how red her cheeks were.

“Of course I found it. You left it right on top of the paperwork that I was working on.” Amy shrugged her shoulders still looking out the window.

“How was Washington?”

“Pretty brutal not going to lie.” He said, she risked a glance over at him and watched the way his eyes scanned the road. “Those guys don’t mess around.”

“I assume you got them all?” She asked trying desperately to ignore the music playing in the background. When she had burned the cd it seemed like a really romantic idea but now she was cringing. Hard.

“Yeah. All of them. It was a great sting. Feds were more than impressed.”

“Congrats then.”

“But it still wasn’t enough.”

“What do you mean?” Amy asked looking over at him. He glanced over quickly at her meeting her eyes before returning his to the road before him. They were in a small neighborhood with each house painted a different vibrant shade.

“I’ve always loved this street.” He said. “I love all the different colors. It used to always make me really happy as a little kid. Always imagined having a big happy family living in one of these houses. Beautiful wife, three kids and a dog sort of thing.”

“I can’t adopt a dog, I’m allergic.” Jake looked over for a second a small smirk on his face. “What?”

“I never said that you were the girl.” Amy felt her entire body be engulfed in the flames as she looked away and out the window. She wanted so badly to just tuck and roll out of this car right now. He was only going twenty five miles and hour, she would be fine right? “I’m teasing you Ames.” Jake said.

“Oh.” She said as Jake came to a stop in a parking lot of a park. “Look. I kind of had some revelations when you were gone.”

“Like what?” Jake asked.

“Well I don’t know where to start. Your mom gave me some of your journals.” Now it was his turn to go red and look out the window for a second. “Even when you told me that you liked me I didn’t realize that I meant that much to you.”

“What?” Jake asked his voice rising an octave as if he didn’t believe that she thought that. “How could you not know that you mean that much to me? Rosa said I was being really obvious about it.”

“I guess it’s always hard to see when you’re the object of affection.” She said. “I missed you like crazy. I didn’t realize it was possible to miss someone so much. Especially someone that I didn’t even date. You were just a friend.” She couldn't help but notice the way Jake winced when she said ‘just a friend’. “When you told me all that I freaked out because I was terrified of losing what I had with Teddy.”

“We don’t have to.” Jake started clearly not wanting to talk about that part of this.

“Yes we do.” Amy replied. “I broke up with Teddy. After you confessed I did lose him in the future, but I gained you. We were married and had this little son. His name was Greyson. He looked just like you. I was pregnant and we just looked so happy together. It was a little sicking.” Jake laughed slightly. “But then when I refreshed the page it was all gone. Just like that and I was devastated. You told me that my future with Teddy was only in jeopardy if I wanted it to be. I didn’t realize it but I wanted you all along. That’s why I keep refreshing my page, kept looking for a different husband. I was just hoping if I refreshed enough times eventually I would be married to you.”

“Then why did you turn me down?” Jake asked and there was a vulnerability in his voice that made her want to climb across the console and hug him tight. 

“Because I was afraid. I’ve never been one to take risks. You know this about me. I like stable, safe things. Teddy was safe, Teddy was coloring between the lines. It made a pretty picture but it was boring. You were a risk. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. You’re like scribbling all over the page, in every color known to the human eye. The picture that is somehow worth a million dollars.”

Amy didn’t even have to say anything else for Jake to lean across the console towards her. She found herself leaning towards him as well on instinct, as if she had done this a thousand times before. “You’re taste in music sucks.” He whispered when his lips were millimeters away from hers.

“Just shut up and kiss me.” Amy whispered back. Jake did as he was told pressing his lips against hers. She closed her eyes and prayed that this moment would last forever. His hands found their way into her hair as her did the same thing. After a minute they pulled apart, lips still millimeters apart. Amy kept her eyes closed focusing on his steady breathing and the words playing over the rado. “Strike up the band, make the fireflies dance, silver moon's sparkling, so kiss me.”

“What do you think Facebook is going to say now?” Jake asked.

“Facebook's gone.” Amy whispered back. “I deleted my profile. But it doesn't matter because from now on I get to choose what happens in the future. And right now I choose you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's officially done!!! 
> 
> My next au is kind of based off the selection books but if anyone has any other au ideas feel free to leave them in the comments and I can write something :)

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually completely written so expect regular updates. Also I have so many more au ideas so expect a lot more from this series as well. 
> 
> The first couple chapters of this are setting up the idea but then I promise there's some actual plot. 
> 
> Lastly if some of the Facebook posts seem out character I promise that’s on purpose and done for a specific reason ;)
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated :)


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